Pokemon New Dimension: Shadowfall
by Lang Noi
Summary: Michael of Orre decides to go visit the other regions with his sister Jovi by his side. On the way, they encounter people and places the likes of which they’ve never seen before. And of course, where a Snagger goes, Cipher is sure to follow…
1. Snagger and Sister

Pokemon Colosseum: New Dimension

A/N: I'm utterly screwing up the timelines for _Pokemon Colosseum_, making the game occur five years before Ash goes on this adventure. Here are the modified ages:

Flashback:

Ash: age 7

Brock: age 10

May: age 5

Max: age 2

Michael: age 7

Jovi: age 4

Wes: age 16

Rui: age 15

For the current timeline, add five to the character's ages.

In this story, Jovi has a Minun and Plusle, both of which can be found at the Pokemon HQ Lab in the game. Michael himself carries a few incredibly powerful Pokemon, including his starter, a Vaporeon (Neptune). I'm using Vaporeon since that's what _I_ evolved my Eevee into. And this Vaporeon's a girl, since mine was.

I think that Flashbacks take up nearly a third of this story. The first chapter doesn't count.

And this is sort of Contestshippy, but mostly from someone else's (Michael's POV). Therefore, I don't think this merits the Romance genre.

No Dividers This Time

Out on the high seas, there was a massive ferry blasting through the rough waves. It was a cool, dry day out, with clouds covering the sun. The other passengers had scurried inside at the vanishing of the sun, but not a couple of kids who were still standing at the bow of the boat, enjoying the cold air. They would have been inside a while ago, but the waves crashing against the helm weren't quite large enough to soak the pair.

"Michael, Jovi wants to know how long it will be until Jovi will see Hoenn," said the girl. She was about nine years of age, but spoke oddly, never using pronouns. The girl had soft blue eyes that spoke of an insane amount of immaturity and optimism. Her hair was blue and fell to her shoulders. Two small buns held her bangs out of her face. She wore a white T-shirt, blue skirt, blue sneakers, and a blue denim jacket. On her back was a light blue backpack, through which the forms of two Pokeballs showed.

"I'm not sure, Jovi." Michael, Jovi's older brother, answered. Michael was obviously a few years older than his sister. His red hair stuck out in every direction, but was marginally tamed by the blue headband he wore. Two particularly long sections of it framed his face, somehow emphasizing his green eyes. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt under a yellow vest. A pair of goggles hung around his neck. He wore blue jeans that seemed a size or two too large for him. On his left arm was a strange machine, and above his left ear was a scanner sort of device. Neither made Michael seem particularly odd, just a little different. But for all the items on his person and in his red backpack, he didn't have a watch.

"Well, Jovi wants Michael to find out, then," Jovi said after a bit of silence between the two, disturbed only by the crashing waves around them.

Sighing, but knowing that Jovi wouldn't stop hounding him until he got her what she wanted, Michael moved from his position leaning against the railing.

It was just as well, he thought as his back gave a twinge at the sudden motion. He hadn't moved in hours, due to the fact that Jovi had dragged him to the bow and simply stayed there. Michael couldn't leave his sister alone, even if she did have two Pokemon of her own. Well, he couldn't leave until she told him he could.

"Just stay there, all right?" Michael called back to her as he reached the door. She probably wouldn't listen, but there was always a chance that she'd listen to his warning.

"I will, big brother!" the blue-haired girl called back.

Michael shut the door behind him. The grand entranceway wasn't really all that impressive, since it was occupied by almost restaurant-like sections, some of which were occupied.

The redhead simply walked to the diner area and took a look at the massive wall clock. "Let's see…we left at one and it's three-thirty right now, so…half an hour more." That was true. The ferry from Gateon Port was due to reach Slateport City's dock at four P.M. Unless a freak storm popped out of nowhere, he didn't think they'd be delayed much.

Frankly, Michael was positive that no such thing would happen. The weather outside didn't look all that great, but it didn't look like the beginnings of some sort of natural disaster, either.

Michael suddenly became aware of the sounds of people rushing around him. He spared a glance to see where the crowd was heading. The masses were heading to the bow…right where Michael had left Jovi. Oh man!

He broke into a run towards the door. If something had happened to his sister, heads would roll.

Some Dork Killed My Dividers

The crowd had already assembled out on the deck, forcing Michael to push and shove (and sometimes kick) people out of his way. When he'd forced his way to the front, he wasn't sure what to do for about three seconds.

Jovi had somehow gotten into a Pokemon battle with a boy of Michael's age. He had spiky green hair and dark eyes. He wore mostly reds and blues, and also wore a bandanna. His two Pokemon were a Primeape and a Machamp.

Jovi hadn't sent out her Plusle or Minun, probably because she knew neither of them was particularly strong. That, and she was still too young to have a trainer's license.

The blue-haired girl turned and spotted him. "Big brother!"

Michael walked up to her. "Jovi, get out of the way," he said softly. He said in a louder voice, "Who are you and why are you picking on my sister?" It was that dangerous tone he reserved mostly for bullies. And Cipher peons.

The other boy watched him, smirking. Clearly, he didn't know that despite Michael being only twelve, the redhead had an arsenal of evolved Pokemon at his disposal.

"She was mouthin' off. Needed to be taught a lesson, ya know," said the boy in a heavily accented drawl. "The name's Chase of Fuchsia City, Kanto."

"Michael of Orre." As he spoke, Michael drew out two Pokeballs. The two Pokemon inside were an absolute pain to deal with if one was the opponent. "I choose Neptune and Artemis!" He hurled the Pokeballs into the air, releasing the beasts inside. In a burst of harsh, white light, a Vaporeon and an Ursaring had entered the playing field. "Let's get to it."

Chase gulped, clearly weighing the odds, which were against his Pokemon.

"Artemis, use Slash on Primeape! Neptune, Hydro Pump on the Machamp!" Michael ordered, devoid of any mercy towards his opponent's Pokemon.

"Machamp, use Detect! Primeape, dodge that!" Chase called to his Fighting-type Pokemon.

As the agile Neptune blasted Chase's Machamp with enough water to fill a canyon, Artemis the Ursaring lumbered towards Primeape, lethal claws extended.

The opposing Machamp dodged the dangerous surge of water, but just barely. He had Hydro Pump's uncontrollability to thank for that. The nimble Primeape wasn't quite fast enough to escape Artemis's vicious claws, which followed through the attack.

Primeape fainted from the critical hit, forcing Chase to recall his poor pig-nosed monkey. Machamp was still in the battle, as were Michael's two Pokemon.

"Now Neptune, use Ice Beam before Machamp gets its balance back!" Michael called. Neptune's aim was a bit off, however, and she only succeeded in coating the soaked deck with a slick layer of ice. Michael bit back a curse he'd heard Cail of Pyrite Town use sometimes.

"Machamp, use Cross Chop on Ursaring!" Machop's arms glowed as soon as Chase ordered it, and Machamp charged for the hapless Normal-type. Granted, the bear Pokemon was larger than all three of the other Pokemon in the battle combined, but still, there was a type disadvantage.

"Artemis, use Faint Attack and the ice to slide away!" Michael cried, realizing the usefulness of his earlier mishap. "Neptune, use Water Gun on Machamp!"

The Ursaring used the Dark attack to seemingly vanish from Machamp's vision before appearing again, this time way out of range. The Faint Attack had masked the bear's trip across the ice.

Meanwhile, the Vaporeon sprayed the confused Fighting-type Pokemon with a jet of ice-cold water, knocking him out.

With that, Chase was once again forced to recall his Pokemon. The crowd of trainers (mostly twelve and younger) soon dispersed, along with the arrogant Fuchsia City kid.

"Jovi wants to thank Michael!" his sister said brightly. "Did Michael find out when we'll reach land?"

"Um…" With the battle as a major distraction, he'd forgotten how much time they had until the ferry arrived in Slateport. It had been about thirty before the battle, but…crap. He couldn't even guess now. But Jovi shouldn't know that. "Maybe twenty minutes, give or take a few."

Jovi seemed to accept that before going back to staring at the waves. Michael recalled Artemis. As the huge, brown bear Pokemon disappeared, Neptune gave a questioning mew.

"Enjoy the view, girl," he murmured to the water-cat, scratching the base of the Vaporeon's finlike ears. Neptune purred, giving her equivalent to a grin as she looked out to sea, where one could see the very beginnings of land.

Jovi had looked at the waves.

So did they.

ARGH!

By the time the ferry had finally docked, Michael, Jovi, and Neptune stepped out into the sunny, tropical Slateport weather. All in all, the coast looked like a resort town all its own.

"I was expecting something a little…drearier." Michael muttered to Neptune. "Return." The Vaporeon disappeared in a flash of scarlet light, returning to its safe haven of a Pokeball.

"Big brother, where is Jovi going now?" Jovi asked. For some reason, Jovi could ask the best questions.

Michael paused and looked around before he spotted a Pokemon Center's distinctive roof over the beach shacks. "We're going there," he replied, pointing. Jovi glanced over there and smiled.

"Oh, maybe Nurse Heather is there!" she said, referring to the blue-haired nurse who operated the Pokemon Center in Gateon Port. Jovi hadn't seen any other Pokemon Centers, he supposed. He doubted that Nurse Heather or her clone-like sisters would go to Hoenn for any reason. Orre had always been their place, as he'd heard from the one in Agate Village.

These thoughts carried him all the way to the Pokemon Center's front door. Jovi practically skipped inside, leaving her older brother to simply trail after her.

Michael went to the counter and left his Pokemon with the nurse at the counter. Apparently, she was named Joy, and she had several (hundred) relatives who looked exactly like her and were all named Joy. Michael supposed that the Joy family was remarkably short on imagination.

Apparently though, Nurse Joy was quite the medic, and handed his Pokeballs back to him within ten minutes.

There weren't many other trainers in the Pokemon Center, but those there were seemed to be traveling together in a group.

There was a boy Michael's age. He was tanned, with dark eyes and hair. He wore a blue vest with a black shirt underneath, and pale blue-gray jeans. On his head was a stylized Pokemon League official hat, red and black rather than red and white. On the ground next to him was a green backpack.

Perched easily on his head was a Pikachu, who by Michael's reckoning was stronger than his Ampharos. There was just a…quality about strong Pokemon that weaker ones didn't have. Michael chose to take a guess and decided that it was confidence.

Sitting next to him on a bench was a girl a little older than Jovi with brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a red bandanna on her head, on top of which a Beautifly sat. She wore mostly black red and white, in a blouse and a pair of multicolored shorts. Around her waist was a yellow pouch, which Michael assumed the girl used instead of a backpack.

Next to her was a boy with dark hair and dark eyes, though they were framed by overlarge glasses. The boy was obviously a few years younger than Jovi, wearing a green polo T-shirt and dark brown shorts with green sneakers. He was holding out a PokeNav and pointing out a city on the route.

Standing up near the counter, flirting with Nurse Joy, was who Michael assumed to be the fourth member of their party. He was taller, definitely a teenager, and also darker than any of his teammates. His eyes were permanently narrowed and looked like they weren't open at all to Michael. He dressed in earthy tones like brown and brownish green, which made Michael think of his as a more mature person than the flamboyantly-clothed girl.

And then there was a blue-haired girl who…wait.

It was right then that Michael realized that Jovi had left his side and started talking to the group of trainers.

"Jovi wants you to meet Jovi's big brother, Michael," his little sister was saying. "Michael, Jovi would like you to meet Ash, May, Max, and Brock." '

Michael grinned and gave a short wave. "Hi. And just in case you're wondering, she's Jovi," he said, pointing at his strange little sister.

"Oh, good," said the boy introduced as Max. "I was starting to worry that she had an imaginary friend."

Michael gave a sort of nervous laugh at that. Jovi didn't have an imaginary friend to his knowledge. What Jovi _did_ have was a tendency to refer to herself in third person. He often wondered when she'd grow out of that.

"So, what Pokemon do you have?" Michael was jolted out of his thoughts by the sudden inquiry. Ash, the boy with the Pikachu, had asked him.

"Uh…we'd better go outside." Michael replied. At Ash's confused look, he added, "Most of my Pokemon are on the large side."

"Oh. Okay."

The group of six quickly vacated the Pokemon Center.

"Before I show you mine, know that you'll have to show me yours in exchange." Michael said, groping blindly in his backpack for his shrunken Pokeballs. "And I'd prefer not to battle right now." His fingers closed around Neptune's Pokeball, which he could distinguish from others because of the fact that there was a sort of calming aura about it.

Quickly, he gathered the other five.

"Got them?" Ash asked.

"Yeah," Michael answered. He tossed the six Pokeballs in the air. "Come on out, everyone!"

In a burst of white light, six Pokemon appeared. There was a female Vaporeon who watched Ash and his friends with an unfathomably deep gaze, which seemed to go right through them. An Ursaring regarded the group with vague curiosity; he shrugged off the feeling and lay down to relax. A large male Arcanine glanced at them before turning a questioning look on his trainer. The female Pidgeot simply spared the lot a look before turning his head to the sky, wondering if he would be allowed to fly today. A female Ninetales viewed them with a sort of cool indifference, before looking back at Michael. Finally, a Lunatone regarded each person in turn and then gave a funny little sigh, as if humans were so strange.

"Their names are Neptune, Artemis, Arkon, Pikon, Nikon, and Selene," Michael said, pointing out each Pokemon. He gave a smile. "Jovi and I each named three of my Pokemon. I bet you can guess who named who." Neptune gave a cheery mew at that. "Also, Jovi has a Plusle and a Minun, named Pepper and Salt."

For the rest of the afternoon, Jovi and Michael were introduced to Ash, May, and Brock's Pokemon (as Max was still too young; Michael knew that Jovi was as well, but neglected to mention it). Ash's Pokemon were Pikachu, Swellow, Grovyle, Corphish, Torkoal, and Snorunt. May's were Combusken, Beautifly, Skitty, Bulbasaur, and Munchlax (Michael had recognized the beast because of a certain Munchlax that kept eating his PokeSnacks whenever they were laid out). Brock's Pokemon were Mudkip, Ludicolo, and Forretress.

Jovi had squealed with delight upon seeing May's team, instantly beginning to play with them, as the rest of them gave her weird looks.

"She's always been…overly excitable," her brother said sheepishly, watching his sister take advantage of Skitty's attraction to moving things. Soon Jovi's short hair was hopelessly tangled and her backpack strap was in shreds. "Looks like she needs a replacement pack, again."

"Ah!" May exclaimed at the ruined strap. She gave Jovi an apologetic look, which wasn't noticed. "I'm so sorry! And Skitty's sorry too, right?" The pink cat ignored her in favor of attacking the other strap.

"It's no big deal." Michael responded, making calming gestures with his hands. "We have a Delcatty at home that makes a bigger mess of things."

At that, May turned her attention to Michael. "A Delcatty? Wow!"

Ash grew curious, "How many Pokemon _do_ you have at home?"

Michael's brain drew a blank. "Um…I think it's in the mid-eighties somewhere, if you're only counting what Jovi and I have caught…and Professor Krane's got a load running around for research purposes. And then most of the PokeSpots got announced as nature reserves, property of the Pokemon HQ Lab…I'm not sure, but the number's huge."

The looks on his new friends' faces were priceless.

"You've caught more than eighty Pokemon!" Ash half-shouted. He was still reeling, it seemed. Eighty-six wasn't really a lot for a Snagger, but Michael decided not to mention that most of his Pokemon had once belonged to other trainers.

"Uh, yeah," Michael answered, still kind of confused by his new friends' reactions. "The number's unusually high, especially in Orre, but that's just what I've caught. I gave most of them away." The Legendary Bird trio suddenly came to mind, along with the formerly-Shadow Lugia, "Or released them."

Suddenly thinking of Pokemon he'd given away, Pepper and Salt came to mind. They had been a present for Jovi's half-birthday, which was exactly six months before her tenth. And that brought him to the first time he'd almost seen her call them out in battle – on the S.S. Tidal.

"Jovi." His almost quiet address did what no amount of yelling would: it got his sister's attention.

"Big brother?" Jovi asked.

"What did you say to that boy on the S.S. Tidal? You know, the one that made you battle him, Chase." Michael clarified when he noticed his sister's blank look.

"Whoa, hold on," Brock interrupted. "Chase of Fuchsia City?"

"Yeah. Is that a big deal?"

"It sure is! In Lilycove City, there's a sort of trainer tournament every year called the Grand League. Chase of Fuchsia City was first runner-up last year." Brock said, after pulling out a tourist's guide to confirm the facts.

"…If that was the same Chase, then everyone else at the tournament last year must have been beginners," Michael said after a longish silence.

Max, the kid with glasses, spoke up at that. "According to the TV special about it, Chase used primarily Fighting-type Pokemon against the winner's Steel-type Pokemon, and lost anyway. And then the winner left and passed the title to Chase."

May looked at her brother with confusion written across her face. "Who was the winner?"

"That's easy. Steven Stone!" Max replied.

Michael stared at the boy, stunned speechless. Neptune mewed to break the irritating silence, as Michael's other Pokemon milled about, looking for Berries and such.

Max noticed. "Is something wrong?"

"Steven Stone entered a tournament like that?" he managed to respond.

"Yeah." Max answered, "But other than the fact that he's Mr. Stone's (who's the president of Devon Corporation) son, there's nothing really special about him."

Jovi, at that point, laughed. "Doesn't Max know? Steven was the first runner-up in the Hoenn Pokemon League. Steven gave up the title of Champion to the true winner, Wallace, a while ago. Wallace was running Sootopolis Gym until then."

"Steven was the Champion!" Ash cried, stunned.

"Not just the Champion of the Hoenn League." Michael said, pulling out a special item called a Fame Checker. "According to this, Steven was the leader of the Elite Four with his team of Steel-type Pokemon. The others are Sydney, Phoebe, Glacia and Drake. You might have seen a one or two of them if you've been traveling around Hoenn."

Ash seemed to think about the new information for a minute before replying, "We saw Steven in Dewford, where he was collecting evolutionary stones."

"By the way, why are you in Slateport City?" May asked. "We're here for the Pokemon Contest Grand Festival, which is in a few days."

"Jovi and Michael are here for sightseeing." Jovi responded before Michael could speak. "And for Jovi to train with her Pokemon. And for Michael to see if the trainers here are any better than the ones in Orre."

Michael, after changing what he was going to say, said the words that would spell his doom; "What's a Pokemon Contest?"

Thus the hapless redhead was pulled into an explanation of what Contests were, how they worked, why May and many other people loved them, why they were better than battling freestyle, why Jovi would do better than Michael in them, why Ash didn't like them, and so on.

By the end, the boys were bored, Jovi was enamored with the concept of Contests, and all of the Pokemon had fallen asleep.

Any idiot would be able to see that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.

If These Dividers Turn Out Just To Be Invisible, I'm Suing

As the six friends (plus Neptune and Pikachu) walked around Lilycove City looking for a place to eat, they also looked around at the town.

Slateport City was well-named. It was huge! At the very least, it took up as much room as Phenac City, Pyrite Town, and Agate Village combined. Shopping districts made up a lot of the city, and in between times where the boys were looking for something to eat, May would pop into a store and Jovi would have to go in and drag her out again (as the masculine cowards they were, none of the males in the party would go anywhere _near_ the makeup store May had chosen).

It took another hour of running around, running in, and running out to find the place they were looking for: Kingler's Seafood Restaurant. Famous around the world for its amazing selection, it was also infamous for its ridiculously high prices. But there was a half-off deal during the week of the Grand Festival, so it wasn't _too_ bad. If they pooled their resources (meaning Ash's, Michael's and Brock's resources), they'd be able to cover the costs easily.

As they sat down to order (and got Pikachu and Neptune something to snack on next to the table) they met the bane of May's existence. Better known as Drew.

The green-haired boy with equally green eyes and an ego the size of Mt. Battle declined to make the first move as May glared at him.

"Who are you?" instead of May, it came from Michael, who was eying the other boy with dislike. May hadn't said anything about a boy like this, but the hostility in her eyes was a hint enough. He doubted that it was anything above a simple rivalry, but no one with his background could take things so lightly.

"The name's Drew." Eying the boy for a moment, and noting the self-assured way he'd introduced himself, Michael decided to try and be polite.

"I'm Michael," the redhead said after a time. He nodded towards his sister, who was browsing the menu, "This is Jovi." Finally, he stroked Neptune's head, as the Vaporeon was done snacking on her Pokemon pellets. "And she's Neptune."

Neptune looked at Drew, her purple eyes surveying everything about him, from his hair to his shoes to his personality. She snorted and went back to contemplating the secrets of the universe, or whatever it was that Neptune did in her spare time.

"Huh," was all Michael said in response. "She isn't usually like that. Sorry."

That apparently hadn't merited a response, since Drew simply gave May a look and walked away.

As soon as the green-haired boy was out of earshot, Michael found himself attacked by May. Actually, to another person it might have looked like enthusiastic hugging, but not to the redhead. To him, it was rather like being strangled.

"…medic…" Michael wheezed, at which point May let go of him. He was suddenly very glad that they'd chosen a booth over a table. Especially one of the corner ones, which were a sort of semicircle.

"Wow, Michael! I've never known anyone who could get Drew to stop bothering me like that," May said happily, as if it were some sort of monumental discovery, like the meaning of life or something.

"…It's not anything special. I was just polite." Michael said after he'd made the world stop spinning.

Jovi seemed to agree, but didn't put her two cents in. But she seemed to want to say something very badly.

"You know, it may be because you're not a Pokemon Coordinator," Brock theorized. May looked at Brock expectantly, now that he'd caught her attention. He continued, "Drew's a Coordinator, so it could be a matter of pride."

"I guess that could be it." It was Ash, this time.

"But then why'd he go away if May was still here?" Max asked.

There was a silence in which the waiter came and became annoyed with the unresponsiveness of his customers and left without taking anyone's orders, but none of them noticed.

"He's jealous."

As one, everyone at the table looked at Jovi.

As the full gravity of what she'd said sunk in, Michael started mentally smacking his head on the table. Why hadn't he noticed that something had seemed odd! And he prided himself on being observant, too. Apparently, his sister was more so.

"W-what did you say, Jovi?" May looked somewhere between nervous and stunned. And maybe a bit excited by the possibility.

"Drew's jealous," she repeated innocently. "Drew didn't leave the restaurant, so Drew probably saw May hug Michael. So Drew's jealous."

Michael felt heat rising to his cheeks, in the way that did _not_ denote affection. More like in the way that one was totally humiliated. Like forced to sing 'I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today' humiliated. "Aw _man_…!"

"Mom didn't say this would be all fun." Jovi said with a smile.

"She didn't say I could get on bad terms with people just by _existing_, either."

Chapter One Over

A/N: That really sucked. It seems that needs to reformat a few things. That includes the story viewing system, since I seem to be having trouble.

When you read, please review if you find something wrong (like if it says Lilycove instead of Slateport). I'm not sure I got all of those out. And I'm thinking of doing a semi-sequel to this already...gah. Just when you don't need it, inspiration hits you like a ton of bricks from every angle.

And I'd appreciate it if you would review at least half the time you lot read this over. My longest (and best) fic has less than 1/200th of the readers actually reviewing.

Anyway, happy readings.

Sheby


	2. ROCKET

Chapter Two: **R**aid **O**n the **C**ity, **K**nock-out **E**vil **T**usks

A/N: If you hadn't noticed, the title of the chapter is alluding to what will happen.

As for a who's who:

Michael: The twelve-year-old redheaded Pokemon Snagger from Orre, main character from _Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness_. He defeated the second incarnation of Cipher a few months before this story. During the events of _Pokemon Colosseum_, his father was killed in Phenac City by Cipher Peons, who were later defeated by Wes and Rui. Thus, Michael has a hatred of Cipher and a serious case of hero worship for Wes. Michael can and will pummel anyone who tries to hurt Jovi, since it's his job to keep her safe while they travel in Hoenn. Michael is an incredibly talented trainer, and has the iron will needed to win. Many a Cipher Peon has discovered that, to their dismay.

Jovi: Michael's hyperactive, scatterbrained, nine-year-old sister. Jovi often plays hide-and-seek with Adon, a man that lives with them, but also frequently forgets that she is playing. She goes over to Dr. Kaminko's house whenever possible, and then Michael has to bring her home. Jovi is also extremely perceptive and can read a person's emotions at a glance. She's also rather open about these perceptions. Jovi is a very inexperienced Pokemon trainer, and has a Mightyena (from Michael) in addition to Plusle and Minun. Her unpredictability gives her Pokemon an edge.

Ash: A thirteen-year-old Pokemon trainer from Pallet Town, Kanto, who is also the main character from the anime. Ash is a rather stubborn boy who doesn't seem to think through anything well. He has a penchant for Pokemon battling, and tends to defeat most opponents he comes across. Ash has had various Pokemon throughout the series, and his current team is described in the previous chapter. Ash tends to use unusual techniques with his Pokemon, such as teaching his Pikachu Iron Tail. This lets him rely on his Pokemon's inner strength over their type or evolutionary stage.

Brock: The twenty-year-old Gym Leader for the city of Pewter. Brock is used to having to take care of people, and is also a very good chef. His mother left his father to continue Pokemon training, and his father soon left to parts unknown. Brock thus was forced to care for all nine of his siblings in their stead. Brock is very knowledgeable on Pokemon and what their temperaments are. He is more sensible than Ash, Misty, May, or Max, but that quickly changes when he encounters a pretty girl his age or older. Brock's Pokemon are primarily of the Rock type.

May: A ten-year-old girl from Petalburg City, Hoenn, and she is the daughter of Norman, the Petalburg City Gym Leader. May has an extremely girly personality, crying when she can't deal with her emotions (which is often) and loving everything about shopping and fashion. May is a Pokemon Coordinator, and, at the moment, Jovi's role model. She has won numerous lesser Contests, but has yet to win a Grand Festival. Her prized Pokemon, up until her Combusken's evolution later in the anime, is her Beautifly. May loves all of her Pokemon, but has yet to use her Munchlax in a Pokemon Contest.

Max: May's seven-year-old brother. Max often seems smarter than his sister, since he likes and has studied Pokemon for years, while she disliked Pokemon from the start. Max is responsible for carrying May's PokeNav, which Michael thinks is a piece of junk until it gets its Match Call feature. Max can be whiny and petty, but has a healthy sibling relationship with May despite the arguments. Max is too young to have had Pokemon before, but he has befriended Pokemon like Jirachi before.

Jessie, James, and Meowth: If you don't know who these three jokers are, you shouldn't be reading this.

Giovanni: Current head of Team Rocket. Giovanni inherited the organization from his mother, who is as of yet unnamed. Giovanni is cool and calculating, and can be harsher than an Antarctic winter. He sees Pokemon only as tools, and has recently made a deal with a shady corporation in exchange for unnaturally powerful Pokemon (cue dramatic music).

Ignore the unimaginative title, please. Its kinda short-notice, anyway.

For future reference, Michael uses his left arm to throw Snag Balls (obviously), and his right to throw normal Pokeballs. He also uses his left arm to fight, because the Sang Machine's weight adds force to a swing.

Jovi's Pokemon aren't bad, they're just not as overpowered as Michael's are.

And I have noted to my dismay that Pidgeot really sucks. I'll have to replace her.

Despite the title, Team Rocket doesn't have that big of a role in this chapter.

I am happy with the story progress so far, but remember that my main story is _still_ going to be _Lesson of the Fox_.

* * *

The next day, Michael woke up in one of the Pokemon Center's extra rooms, feeling much better. Michael, after getting his Snag Machine secured to his arm, walked out of the room as his sister was just stirring.

Moving into the cafeteria, he asked the waitress (who also looked something like Nurse Joy) for pancakes.

As he was enjoying his breakfast, Ash and Co™ popped in. Jovi was still not around.

"Hi." Michael greeted as he finished up. The others waved halfheartedly, groggy. They slid into a booth, and Michael concluded that they had gotten little sleep the previous night. He considered asking why, but decided that he didn't need to stick his nose into their business.

It had happened enough a few months ago, and he'd nearly been taken apart for it.

Not at all put off by their lack of response, he wandered over to the Pokemon Transfer System. His current team needed a break. Since he'd had the major battle with Greevil, Michael had taken to switching the Pokemon in his team as often as they needed it.

Besides, he needed a break from the high-maintenance quality of this one.

Professor Krane appeared on the screen.

"Hello Michael!" Krane greeted, sounding as if he'd already had his morning coffee. Twice. "I trust you and Jovi have made it to Hoenn safely?"

"Yes, Professor," Michael replied. "We've also met some new friends: Ash, May, Max, and Brock."

The professor's squinty eyes seemed to widen in pleasant surprise. "So, Michael, why are you calling so early? It's about seven in the morning here."

Michael winced, realizing that if he'd called anyone else, they would have not been happy. Lucky for him, Professor Krane was the one at the Lab who had the incredible drive for research. In fact, he was so devoted to his cause that it was a wonder the man slept at all.

"I'd like to transfer my team again, Professor." Michael answered plainly. Krane had heard this many times. Michael changed every member of his active team, save Neptune, every month or so.

There was a lapse in the conversation as Professor Krane started rummaging around the lab for Michael's extensive collection of Shadow Pokemon.

There weren't a lot of Shadow Pokemon left, only ten or so. That wasn't a bad record, considering that he'd had to Purify over seventy of their brethren.

"All right…how about you take the Shadow Rhydon, Shadow Manectric, Shadow Scyther, Shadow Lapras, and Shadow Altaria? They're some of the few you haven't managed to Purify yet." Krane asked, holding up the five Pokeballs.

Michael nodded and removed five of the six Pokeballs in his bag.

On each end, they started the process of transferring the Pokemon back and forth.

When Michael and Krane's transfers were finalized, he waved goodbye to the professor and ended the call.

* * *

Outside the Pokemon Center, Team Rocket was waiting. Holding up something that looked like a submarine scope, Jessie peeked through the window. The twerp and his friends were there.

Another girl with blue hair was munching on cereal at the same table, making Jessie's stomach growl unpleasantly.

A boy with spiky red hair was transferring his Pokemon to some brown-haired man over the Transfer System. He didn't seem all that impressive, but Team Rocket's greedy streak had been sparked by seeing his Pokemon yesterday.

"How're we gonna get Pikachu this time?" Meowth asked Jessie, prodding her forearm with his paw.

"We're not aiming for just Pikachu." James interjected.

"Huh? Why's that?" Meowth asked, rubbing his charm in confusion.

"Didn't you see that redhead twerp's Pokemon yesterday?" Jessie asked. A fire lit in her eyes – the kind that James and Meowth feared above all else. Nothing stopped Jessie when she was in that mood. "We're gonna get all of his, too."

"Oh, I know!" Meowth cried happily. "Why don't we give those Pokemon to the boss? He'll be so grateful, we're sure to get promotions!"

James's face went blank. "Explain."

"That Vaporeon can be a swimmin' aid, y'know!" Meowth said enthusiastically. Everyone knew where this would go. "That there Ninetales can be the best winter comforter – it's fuzzy and warm. Enter that Arcanine in a race and watch as the boss wins millions off those losers who betted on some Rapidash! Ursaring can knock down whole trees of Berries for the boss to snack on whenever he's hungry. Imagine the boss, skydivin' when his parachute doesn't work! That Pidgeot could get him to da ground in style, like a hang glider! And that there Lunatone could scare away anybody who'd wanna try an' rob him!"

As Jessie and James digested the unusually-long list of reasons that they should steal Pokemon, Meowth concluded, "And ya' know what he'd say? 'I must thank Meowth and friends generously for giving me such a useful team of Pokemon'."

"Yeah, climbin' up the ladder, there is no one better than us!" All three cheered, and got down to business.

* * *

By the time everything was finished, he noticed that Ash and his friends were looking a lot more awake, and Jovi was finishing up her breakfast.

"Was it that time?" Jovi asked him around a mouthful of extra-sugary cereal. Michael flinched unnoticeably, mentally reminding himself to tell Jovi to brush her teeth.

"Yeah. Second-to-last group, now," Michael responded.

"What does that mean?" Ash asked.

Michael refocused on him, reminded that there were others in the room. They shouldn't know about this sort of thing, but he knew a hero-type when he saw one. Hero-types were brave almost to the point of suicide, and nosy enough to drive a celebrity insane.

Takes one to know one, after all.

"I'm training a group of Pokemon I've never handled before." Michael said, as close to the truth as he could be without actually revealing anything. "After this team, and the next, I will have gotten to know all of them."

"How often do you change teams?" Brock asked.

"Every month, or something like that," Michael responded evenly as he watched one of Brock's eyebrows raise. "I changed teams much more often during the incident in Orre a while back."

"What incident?" May asked, her brother mirroring her confused look.

"Isn't a month too short a time to get to understand your Pokemon?" Brock asked at the same time.

"To answer May's question, there was mass Pokemon thievery both six months ago and five years ago. Both cases involved a trainer who single-handedly took down the thieves' organization.' " Michael replied, carefully keeping his voice neutral. He ignored her cry of shock. "To answer Brock's question, no, a month is not long enough to get to know one's Pokemon. But it is long enough to get some grasp on their personalities, and help them settle any problems they have."

"How could the police not stop it?" Ash asked, stunned.

"Since the organizations were using the same tactics, the police were nearly useless. What crippled their forces were the trainers of the organizations. Both are known as Cipher." Michael answered, still forcing his voice to be plain and dull.

"Jovi remembers the first Cipher." Jovi piped up unexpectedly. "Jovi and Michael's dad hasn't been seen since then. Jovi also remembers the second Cipher. Nice Mr. Verich was behind it. Jovi was sad."

"I think I've heard of that guy. He was the biggest millionaire south of Kanto." Max said. "_He_ caused all the trouble the second time?" Max added in disbelief.

"Yes. The first time, it was a man who went under the name 'Es Cade', the mayor of our hometown." Michael swallowed the feeling of betrayal that lingered from all those years ago. Es Cade had been _nice_. "Turns out, he was named Evice and was the head of all Cipher, and was the one who used Team Snagem as lackeys."

"What's Team Snagem?" Ash asked. Man, the interrogation squad was on a roll today.

Michael's mouth quirked oddly. "That's a story for another day." There was a groan from Ash and friends. Talk about curious as kittens. He doubted even he'd ever been this bad.

Watching their faces fall, feeling as if he were years older than them, Michael added, "How about you help me with my new team? I've never actually seem them for a long time." No kidding. What was with him and spitting out half-truths all of a sudden?

Max instantly perked up, begging to see the new Pokemon. May, watching her brother do so, could only sigh and agree. Ash still pouted, apparently not used to being shoved off the trail for information so briskly. Brock had a pensive look on his face, and was staring at Michael and Jovi intently.

Or at least, Brock seemed to. One could never tell when the person doing the staring had squinty eyes.

All six stepped outside the Pokemon Center, ready to see Michael's new Pokemon.

All of a sudden, there was an explosion in the distance, less than two miles from the Pokemon Center they were standing in front of. All heads in the area snapped upwards, watching as the plume of smoke rose higher and higher.

"Jovi thinks this can wait!" she shouted, and started running in the direction of the commotion. Michael was on her heels like white on rice as soon as she started to get out of sight. Ash and his friends followed at a more sedate pace, but not by much.

Moving through a panicking town and against the flow of people is no piece of cake, as Michael soon discovered.

He couldn't fly on Altaria, as it was still Shadow and therefore unpredictable. He couldn't risk it going into Hyper or Reverse mode, since both would be a big problem if he was forced to battle. Shadow Scyther would be an even worse idea.

After ten minutes or so of forcing his way through people who were too scared to let him pass, he and Jovi were there.

A building that seemed to be a warehouse was burning, its roof collapsed. Fire and smoke streamed from its broken windows. Along one side, part of a hot air balloon seemed to be dangling off the roof. Someone in a hot air balloon must have crashed. The burner could have started a fire.

Two people stood in front of the warehouse, pointing and laughing at the flames and whoever was running. Michael recognized the uniforms easily.

There were two Cipher Peons, a woman and a man, _in_ _Hoenn_. Michael gritted his teeth. _I thought I left these losers back in Orre! What in Lugia's name are they doing here?!_

At that moment, the peons turned and faced the kid their boss had warned them about.

"What is that brat doing here?" the woman screeched.

"It doesn't matter!" snarled the man. "Let's take him out and take his Pokemon."

_As if it's that easy_, Michael thought dangerously. Jovi had stopped moving to stare at the pair, as if she had a serious case of déjà vu.

"Who're these guys?" Max asked blankly, as he and his friends arrived on the scene.

"Isn't that Team Rocket's balloon?" Brock asked, pointing at the Meowth-head balloon.

As if on cue, May and Ash's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my God, it is!" Ash shouted in shock, eyes going from the balloon to the gaping hole in the roof.

"Ash, May, Max, Brock!" Michael shouted back at his friends. "Get anyone who's inside out to safety. Jovi, help them. I'll take care of these Admin wannabes!"

Ash nodded sharply and he called out his Corphish. Brock sent out his Mudkip and Ludicolo. May sent out her Combusken and Skitty, to help fight fire with fire and cool down with ice.

Jovi called out Pepper, Salt, and Michael's Mightyena to help. She pulled on Max's arm and spoke to him, probably telling him to command Mightyena.

All five defied common sense and ran into the burning building.

Instantly, two Pokeballs were in Michael's hands. Each of the Cipher Peons took out one.

"Nidoqueen! Let's go!" shouted the woman

"I choose you, Nidoking!" the man called.

Both peons threw their Pokeballs and the requested Pokemon appeared. The Nidoqueen was heavily armored with those bone-plates of hers. Her horn was as short as was expected, but her tail looked even stronger than normal.

The Nidoking was a frightening sight in all his armored glory. The spiked ridges along his back were more dangerous-looking than most of his kinds', his arms, however, were thinner. His crushing tail also seemed deficient, but the lance-like horn he sported did nothing to make the overall effect less 'sharp'.

_Okay, they're the same type with roughly the same stats_. Michael thought as the Aura Searcher on the side of his head started beeping. The tiny hologram screen scrolled across the vision of his left eye, and started displaying the dark aura that surrounded both Pokemon. _And they're Shadow. Blast it._

He stared at the two Pokeballs in his hands. Michael sighed and called out Neptune and the Shadow Rhydon to fight.

Neptune yipped in her sing-song voice, as the Rhydon grunted.

"Neptune, use Aurora Beam on Nidoqueen!" Michael shouted. "Rhydon, use Shadow End on Nidoking!" There was an advantage to being someone who'd fought every Pokemon they owned. He could remember every one of their peculiar attacks.

"Nidoqueen, use Shock Wave to stop that Vaporeon!" the female peon ordered.

"Nidoking, use your Thunderbolt on that Vaporeon!" the male peon called. Michael felt a twinge of unease – Shadow Pokemon didn't normally know anything except for Shadow attacks. _Does that mean these two are already partially Purified_?

Instead of doing what the peons had intended, the two electric bolts started to go in the direction of Neptune, but change course mid-way and went for Rhydon instead.

Meanwhile, Neptune's Aurora Beam hit the Nidoqueen head-on, blasting the blue monster with waves of rainbow ice energy.

Rhydon continued, unobstructed, to perform the dreaded Shadow End attack. Its aura magnified to the point where his eyes hurt to look at the Rhydon, and then the drill Pokemon released the attack.

It hit the Nidoking with bone-breaking force.

In unison, both opposing Pokemon fell over, exhausted.

Michael fitted an Ultra Ball into the machine on his left arm. As soon as the gauge read 'full', Michael flung the ball as hard as he could at Nidoking. He charged the second Ultra Ball as fast as the machine could go, tossed it at Nidoqueen, and Snagged both Pokemon before their trainers had time to blink.

"Neptune, get them both back!" Michael ordered. Neptune ran over to where the Ultra Balls had stopped rolling around, and gripped one in her mouth. The second she smacked back to him with her tail.

Michael had both Pokemon on the way to the Pokemon HQ Lab in an instant, via the PC Transfer System.

"Rhydon, use Shadow Hold on the Cipher Peons." The Pokemon did as he was told, snaring both trainers in pools of murky energy.

Michael walked up to both sweating peons, eyes glaring spitfire. He gripped the man by the front of his polished white armor. "Tell your boss that Cipher isn't any more welcome in the other regions than in Orre."

He recalled Rhydon, but left Neptune out in case they tried anything. They didn't – both fled down the street.

"Michael, what did you _do_?" Ash's voice came from a little to his left. Michael winced. This wasn't something he wanted to explain.

Nonetheless, he turned to face everyone. Three new faces seemed to have joined his friends – a woman with very long purple hair, and man with short blue hair, and a Meowth. The man and woman had a big red R stamped on their uniforms, which had probably been white and were now gray from the heat and ash inside the building.

"Which part?" Michael asked, barely keeping his annoyance out of his voice. It was partially at the Cipher Peons for putting him in this position, partially at himself for not telling them what he did so often, and partially at the three newcomers for watching him with something akin to reverence on their faces.

Jovi walked over to him, wary of the hostility between her brother and her new friends.

"Jovi, don't! He's a Pokemon thief," May warned sharply. Jovi gave her a scathing look, and May shut her mouth with a snap.

The siblings locked eyes for a moment. Michael silently commanded Jovi to stand down; it wasn't her fault. She hadn't even really realized what was going on a few months ago. Maybe now she did, but she'd never seen her brother Snag another trainer's Pokemon like that.

"Are you stealing, if neither you nor the victim of the theft truly owns it?" Michael asked, using his most quietly outraged tone. "Are you stealing if the current master has allowed a Pokemon's heart to be sealed shut and turned into a mindless fighting machine? Are you stealing if the 'owner' stole it first, from someone else?"

"Jovi knows that Michael doesn't ever steal from good trainers." Jovi said, all traces of her carefree attitude gone. "Jovi knows that the people who treat Pokemon like that don't deserve to one any at all."

"Is that supposed to justify stealing another trainer's Pokemon?" Max demanded, furious.

"No. It's supposed to tell you that some things need to be done in order to root out the biggest Pokemon thief organization in the world." The answer stunned everyone but Michael and Jovi. "It seems as if it's time to tell you everything. The three 'R's can listen, if they want."

If anyone noticed that Michael didn't address Team Rocket by name, they didn't say anything. Team Rocket left to salvage their balloon.

* * *

They walked back to the Pokemon Center, supposed villains and heroes alike, and chose to sit in the common as they discussed the meaning of the thievery and these 'sealed heart' Pokemon.

Michael came back with Ash (who was tailing him in case he stole anything else), holding a glass of water, and everyone sat down to listen. As everyone got comfortable, Michael began.

"Five years ago, there was an organization called Team Snagem and another called Cipher. Team Snagem stole Pokemon, and then sent them to Cipher. Cipher used special machines and cruel experiments to seal the Pokemon's heart and lock away all emotion. Then Cipher would send these Shadow Pokemon into the public of Orre, and watch as the people grew envious of those who had these 'super Pokemon'. They used to go to the Colosseums to win a Shadow Pokemon, when they came out on top."

Michael paused to take a drink and answer any questions.

May raised her hand. "Why did Cipher give all of these Pokemon away? They sound like they could be pretty strong.

"Cipher, by distributing the Shadow Pokemon, was essentially corrupting the entire region. People would fight over trivial things, and the one with the strange Pokemon would always win."

"How did Team Snagem steal the Pokemon?" Max asked.

In response, Michael lifted his left arm for all to see. "This device is called a Snag Machine. By charging a Pokeball inside it, you can change it into a Snag Ball. They catch Pokemon in the same way that normal Pokeballs do, but include a trainer's Pokemon."

Ash looked about to say something on that, but Michael cut him off. "Two questions per pause." Ash pouted.

"Where was I…? Oh, Team Snagem, while vital to Cipher's operations, was underappreciated. Team Snagem had a Snagger back then named Wes. Wes, possibly angered by some act against him or his Espeon and Umbreon, blew up the Team Snagem base. On his way to start a new life without thievery, he came across two employees of Cipher, who had kidnapped a girl, Rui, from a nearby city. Wes rescued her, and after a long journey of Snagging, Purifying, and beating down Cipher Admins, they managed to shut down Cipher with Ho-oh's help.

"Somewhere in all of that commotion, I got Neptune for a birthday present, and my dad was killed by Cipher Peons who ambushed him when he was coming home. I guess it was because he was one of few people who were trying to do something to stop Cipher. So you'll understand that I don't steal Pokemon for any reason other than to save them from themselves and their masters."

This time, Michael allowed everyone to have their questions answered.

"Ho-oh helped take down Cipher? I though Ho-oh only lived in Johto!" Ash exclaimed.

"Ho-oh was on top of Mt. Battle five years ago. I've fought my way to the top – it's not there anymore." Michael answered. "After that incident, it might have gone back to Johto."

"Does Wes still live in Orre? Maybe he could help you take down Cipher this time!" May mused excitedly.

"While it's possible, I doubt it. He hasn't been seen anywhere in Orre since that last battle." Michael responded. "He was impersonated by a brutal Pokemon trainer during the last few days he was spotted in Orre, and took the man down."

"What's 'Purifying'?" Brock asked.

"Purifying by the dictionary is 'to make pure'. By the almost-slang term we use, Purifying is when you free a Shadow Pokemon's heart from those locks that Cipher left in it. There are several ways to Purify Pokemon, but I usually use the longest method – training the Pokemon personally." Michael answered.

"Who are the Cipher Admins?" Max inquired.

"Five years ago, it was Miror B., Dakim, Venus, and Ein. If you squinted really hard and twisted your head funny, you could almost call Nascour one, too."

"Was Jovi and Michael's dad really killed by Cipher?" Jovi asked in a small voice.

Michael nodded grimly, and Jovi started crying. She almost flew at him, and wept into his vest. His eyes darkened in memory, but all he did was hug his sometimes-crazy sister. There would be no yelling or harshness. His mind had had enough of those for a lifetime.

As she sobbed, Neptune popped out of her Pokeball and draped herself across Jovi's lap, comforting her.

Michael continued his story. Neither his voice nor his expression hinted at his own pain.

"Six months ago, a little before Jovi got Pepper and Salt, it came to our attention that Cipher was active again, under a new boss. Professor Krane and our father had been working on a Snag Machine, but after he died, the remaining scientists and our mother worked on readjusting it. My father had originally been the one they were designing the Snag Machine for, but then the design had to be changed to fit me.

"There…there was a lot of stuff that happened on that crazy adventure I'd rather let lie. I went on basically the same adventure that Wes did, with a few twists. I doubt he was ever knocked out by Snagem grunts and had his Snag Machine stolen. Only reason I got it back was because the guy who stole it couldn't fit it. I guess I changed Team Snagem for the better, since now they don't steal Pokemon anymore.

"Anyway, when I finally got to take on the boss's main base, I found out that it was possibly the most dangerous thing ever attempted. You know why?"

The others shook their heads. Even Jovi stopped crying and stared at him, confused.

"It's because Cipher had control over a Shadow Lugia."

Instantly, everyone's eyes grew wide in shock. The only one who showed no surprise was Neptune, since she had been part of his active team during that excursion.

"How in Ho-oh's name did you manage to win?" Ash asked, astounded. He had voice everyone's thoughts, it seemed, because the rest of them stopped talking.

"I had a Master Ball with me. I used it as soon as I could, and proceeded to Snag the Cipher boss's entire team of Shadow Pokemon." Michael replied, not really annoyed by the interruption. "He also had a Shadow Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, plus Rhydon, Tauros, and Exeggutor. I defeated and Snagged all six, and then his bodyguards came in. I had defeated them earlier and taken their Shadow Pokemon, but I didn't know they'd be back.

"The one in blue, Ardos, suggested blowing up Citadark Isle in order to erase all traces of their work. And to erase their only opposition. I was the only one that this Snag Machine could work with, and it had taken everyone at the Pokemon HQ Lab five years to build it. My Pokemon were worn out, even the Shadow Lugia, so I'd never have made it out alive if Ardos had convinced Greevil to destroy the island. Luckily for me, the red bodyguard, Eldes, convinced Greevil to surrender to the police. Ardos fled, and I'm still here to talk about it.

"Since then…I don't really know what I've been doing other than helping out Johnson and Chief Sherles in Pyrite Town. I've kept an eye out for Shadow Pokemon at home, and instead I find them here."

Michael drank the rest of his glass of water in one go. His throat hurt now.

He looked at Jovi, who was still watching him with tear-filled eyes. Yet, it didn't seem as if she was crying for their father anymore.

Michael suppressed a wince when he realized that she had been worrying about him.

* * *

A/N: The edited chapter is up, now. Say goodbye to the Author's Note that was here. :)


	3. Cipher Admin, Pink Surprise

Chapter Three: Cipher Admin – Pink Surprise

A/N: Yes, Lovrina is back. :D She's still a little ditsy, and could probably compete with Jessie for hair length alone…that's an idea, now…

Also, I figured it was time for Ash and friends to _really_ meet the most evilest organization in the world, yep. The grammar mistake is intentional :).

This chapter is named after the only PokeBlock in the world that can fill up a Munchlax. No wonder that one in _Gale of Darkness_ keeps stealing Michael's PokeSnacks…

Random crap – I don't like it when people use chat-speak. Usually, it takes me longer to read things that include it, which I find annoying. It's much better for people if they get into the habit of typing out the full word. And less of an eyesore for me.

* * *

Later in the night, Michael found that all of them had fallen asleep where they sat from their long discussion from last night. While in another context the thought might have been funny, he was just too tired to bother with it. Going to bed at one in the morning was not something he practiced regularly. Now, it was barely five.

He sighed. Now that they knew about him, would they turn on him? Turn him into this region's Officer Jenny, perhaps? The thought was not at all comforting, and he didn't really know enough about them to trust them to remain silent.

He got up and started to head to the bathroom. It was still too early to do anything, such as eat a large breakfast.

_At least Jovi won't do something like that_, he thought in an effort to console himself. However, even that sentiment died before any comforting sensation could sink in.

He reached the bathroom, and eyed his likeness in the mirror. His reflection looked tired, as it well might. He'd dealt with too much stress during his short life, and only now were the signs beginning to show.

As the linkage for his previous major thought hit, he gripped the sides of the sink until his fingers began to protest at the pressure.

He hadn't told her why or how their father had died. He had been seven at the time, and their father had been killed within a block of their house. Jovi had been asleep, but Michael hadn't. He'd heard screaming, and, in the stupidity of that age, merely gone to his mother for reassurance that it was just a nightmare. She told him as much, though she had looked strained, and told him to go back to bed.

It hadn't been.

In hindsight, though, if he had gone out to investigate, he might not be alive today. Cipher wasn't exactly famed for compassion in any form.

He supposed that that was why he was chosen to use the Snag Machine. Enough suppressed hate had gathered in him to kill any mercy he might have felt when he Snagged a Cipher peon's Shadow Pokemon, and it was a sort of indirect revenge.

If they took his father, he'd take away their power.

Despite confronting the Cipher boss on Citadark Isle, he never brought up what drove him to take them down at any cost. Even his own life.

He knew, somehow, that Greevil had nothing to do with his father's death, and that had spared the man from a rather brutal beating. He also knew that Nascour, or perhaps even Evice, had had a hand in everything, but he was beyond worrying about it now.

He was a long way from them, from most problems he was familiar with. If that was so, why was he so miserable?

Brock had reacted badly to the reality of Orre, as he had expected. But after Michael explained everything, he was surprised to find that the older boy had been more sympathetic than anything.

Ash, May, and Max had been downright stunned. Clearly, they were too inexperienced to think of Pokemon thievery as ever being a widespread crime. Michael had, however, seen the old papers from the rest of the regions. They had once had problems like that until each region's Elite Four had come into their own and squashed the criminals out of society.

It would have worked out fine, if Orre had had an Elite Four of its own. Orre's Mt. Battle leaders were as close as they could get, but with all ten concentrated in one place, it was hopeless.

All he wanted now was… and there his mind drew a blank.

He didn't really have much of a reason to keep going on with Snagging, or even being a Pokemon trainer at all. He'd never felt like competing for Gym badges (he wasn't very competitive), or battling at all unless he needed to achieve something. He hadn't favored Contests, since they were really only judging how flashy a Pokemon could be, and the idea of a being a Breeder seemed out of the question in Orre.

He felt so…useless.

What was the purpose of a Snagger without an evil organization to take down? With his luck, those morons from last night were just remnants of the group he'd taken out. After retrieving the last of the Shadow Pokemon from them, his point in this would be over.

Michael sighed again, regarding his haggard reflection with no expression on his face.

"With any luck, the world will never need someone like me after this."

It wasn't the best conclusion he could have come up with, but for now, it would have to do.

* * *

However, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong with him.

When Jovi saw her brother come out of the bathroom down the first hall, she pretended to be asleep. She could guess where his train of thought had led him. The lost, old look on his face had been hint enough.

Jovi sighed inwardly. Clearly, he was well into one of those 'moods' again. He wouldn't come out of it for weeks if she didn't help.

Michael really was too hard on himself. Before their father had died, he'd been very pleasant and even a bit of a pushover. For a while afterwards, he had been even more insecure than some of the Shadow Pokemon he spent time trying to heal. Then, after taking down Cipher, he'd been so deep into a bout of depression that he'd locked himself in his room for almost a day.

Now, she thought she knew why.

Michael had never talked about his journey to her, or to their mother. Whenever it came up, he'd abruptly leave the room with a hastily made excuse, and disappear for hours. Jovi had thought that he'd just been tired.

Now she knew better. Michael must have been scared, terrified, of how close he'd come to leaving them forever. He'd almost joined the ranks of the many that'd died trying to stall or destroy Cipher.

At that thought, Jovi almost cried. She'd come within a hair of losing her big brother, and she'd never have known if he hadn't said as much.

She remembered how quiet he'd been, how his eyes used to darken whenever he looked at Professor Crane, their mom, or her. He seemed to be trying to fix the image of them, happy and carefree, in his mind so he could fight whatever horrors his mind could conjure.

He did have nightmares. Despite them being in different rooms, she could tell. They came so often that she was regularly awake in the wee hours of the morning, trying to will him peace for the night. It almost never worked.

Worst of all, she couldn't do a thing to help.

But last night had seemed special. He hadn't even twitched, and his breathing was even once he'd nodded off for the night.

Maybe the answer to Michael's hidden demons were these four travelers, who'd had the courtesy not to judge to quickly, and to give her big brother a chance.

Her eyes were shut in feigned sleep, so she only felt her brother settle down near her, ready to wait out the rest of the night.

He tried so hard, only to feel as though he'd failed. Jovi wished she could end that feeling for him, but she knew that she couldn't. He'd have to figure that out for himself, she admitted sadly to herself.

Her acting skills, Jovi was proud to admit, were much better than average. As Michael moved onto the floor with his blanket and mat (snatched from a large pile near Nurse Joy's front counter), Jovi let her hand drift out and settle on his shoulder.

Michael didn't brush it off, and it wasn't long before peaceful slumber took hold of her brother once more. When he didn't stir or whimper in his sleep for several minutes, Jovi allowed herself to drift off as well.

The entire night passed without her removing her hand.

* * *

When May woke up at around ten, she almost jumped off of the couch she'd been so comfortably curled on. Instead, she stared at the two siblings sleeping across from her.

Jovi was curled in the corner of a section of the couch. Her blue hair was messy and one of the buns had dismantled itself, and her mouth was slightly open as she lay there on her side. One of her arms was dangling off the edge of the couch, and May followed it with her eyes.

Michael was lying on the ground next to Jovi, and her hand was resting on his shoulder. His headband was off, and so was his yellow vest, as well as the Snag Machine. He looked like he hadn't moved an inch since whenever he'd fallen asleep, and finally seemed not to be stressed at all.

At that moment, Jovi's eyes snapped open.

The younger girl simply looked at May, her eyes not saying anything. May abruptly felt self-conscious and began digging around for her bandanna.

"Be quiet please," Jovi whispered. "He doesn't get a lot of sleep."

May nodded, though she was still very confused. _Why_ didn't Michael get a lot of sleep?

Jovi slowly retracted her hand from her brother's shoulder, and sat up. Her blue jacket was lying across the back of the couch, and her shoes were about a foot or two away, but she made no move to retrieve either.

As silent as could be, the two girls padded across the linoleum to the bathrooms.

"Jovi, why-?" she started, holding up a finger to emphasize her point.

Jovi cut her off, surprising May with her forcefulness. "Jovi knows that no matter how Michael acts, he was scared, very scared. Big brother fought one of the meanest, strongest Pokemon trainers in the whole wide world. Then, as soon as he wins by pushing himself to the limit, some bad man says that they should kill him."

May froze, her jaw hanging a ways below her upper one. To face that kind of thing, at that age…it was like a concept out of a corny action movie.

Jovi's blue eyes darkened. "Jovi almost lost two very important people to Cipher. Jovi will do everything needed to make sure Jovi does _not_ lose big brother, understand?"

"I…" How was she supposed to respond to that?

"Jovi knows that Cipher will never stop coming after big brother, as long as they have the numbers and power," the blue-haired girl murmured, turning away. "Because of that, Jovi will follow him and keep him safe."

May found very pertinent questions somewhere underneath all the fuzz from a long sleep. "How can you do that? What makes you so sure they'll keep coming?"

As the two continued on to the bathroom, they could distinctively hear the sounds of the boys rousing. Jovi appeared not to notice. Instead, her attention was still on May.

"Jovi knows that Cipher will always look for the Snag Machine." Jovi whirled around, and May was almost scared of the shorter girl for a minute. "They don't have one, and Team Snagem was gone five years ago. They also…they will want to get back at him for beating them. Jovi will _never_ let them hurt big brother again."

May felt relieved when Ash bumbled into the conversation, breaking the tense mood.

"What're you two talking about?" he asked, clueless as usual.

"Jovi is hungry!" the blue-haired girl broke in loudly, not giving May a chance to say anything.

Ash blinked groggily at her, then brightened at the suggestion of getting food. May inwardly groaned – trust men to think with their stomachs. "Yeah, so am I. Wanna get something?"

Jovi tapped her shin thoughtfully, as if running through all the memories of restaurants she'd seen in the past several days. "Jovi wants pancakes."

It took the two about five seconds to narrow down where they wanted to go. Then they were gone in a whirl of blue.

That left everyone else standing in the commons with identical blank expressions on their faces.

"Is she usually like that?" Max asked Michael confusedly.

Michael nodded, sighing. "When we were younger, she was always sneaking off to Professor Kaminko's house, sometimes to bother him and others to bother Chobin. Usually, I was the one who had to go get her back."

"Who's Professor Kaminko? Is he famous in Orre, like Professor Oak is here?" May asked, scratching her bandanna-less head. She yawned, and then so did Brock.

Michael looked faintly embarrassed. "Actually, he's not famous at all. I only know he even exists because Jovi introduced him when we were six. Instead of the 'for the good of mankind and Pokemon' things you'd expect, he makes a lot of just plain stupid stuff."

Brock seemed to blink. "Like what?"

"Among other things, special sandals designed to make your feet hurt, a light bulb that uses double the energy of normal ones and an energy-saving refrigerator that turns off whenever you close the door." Michael rattled off with a grin, absently looking for his headband. _It has to be around here somewhere_… "Chobin's his devoted apprentice, who's a lot like a groupie, now that I think of it." At their surprise, he shrugged and added, "Orre gets whatever weird people the other regions don't want, I think."

Michael finally found his headband, under about five inches of who-knows-what that seemed to be a common part of the life of travelers – no organizational skills.

He didn't really react to their sudden, uproarious laughter; he looked at the three of them as if they were crazy, and continued the search for his vest, which was also missing. Eventually, he gave it up as a lost cause (they were too messy for their own good) and just put on the Snag Machine.

"Won't that look a bit odd?" May burst out, unable to hold her opinion any longer.

Michael paused for a second. Just one. "No more than it usually does."

Fashion sense aside, those goons from the previous knight could be a sign that there were still Shadow Pokemon out there. He made a mental note to E-Mail Nett about an updated Shadow List. Though he had to admit, the Snag Machine _would_ stick out more.

Max snorted. "You look like you're wearing a high-tech baseball mitt."

"Maybe," the redhead considered with a wry grin, "but I'll take the risk."

There was a bit more nagging, which Michael failed to take seriously, and eventually, the four of them left the Pokemon center. However, Michael, for one, was not stupid enough to leave his Pokemon here unattended. In exchange for practically telling the four his life's story, they had given him a rather rushed (though exceptionally detailed) account of what they'd been through over the last few months, years, days, or whatever.

It seemed as though his new friends' fears of Pokemon thieves were well-founded. During their long and involved retelling, with contributions from everyone, Michael learned that the three he'd seen before were Team Rocket, representatives of a bigger group of Pokemon thieves.

Fortunately, the three – Jessie, James, and Meowth – were more bumbling idiots than anything, and screwed up even more experienced Pokemon thieves' plans. Explained how they'd crashed their balloon.

After a bit, the remaining quartet shuffled out the door to find the other two.

It wasn't really hard.

Like usual, Jovi had chosen a place so saturated with sugary food that it was a wonder the place hadn't been eaten yet. It was a pastry bakery crossed with a restaurant. It was a dentist's worst nightmare.

"Of course…" Michael muttered, eyes pulsing painfully at the pink-and-white tiled floor as they strode in. "Leave it to Jovi to pick a place like this."

Abruptly, there was a sound that was a lot like an alarm. To say that it was loud was no understatement, but it certainly didn't help that it had a high, irritating pitch. Michael pressed his hands over his ears in an attempt to stifle it, eyes slamming shut in pain.

When he opened them, he realized that storm of people were pressing past him, past the door, and towards City Hall.

His eyes darkened at the thought that it might have been the city's natural disaster alarm.

Noting that Jovi was only a bit ahead of him, having gone on without once considering who was around her, he followed.

* * *

Michael didn't really have to look all that far. The main crowd was barely a meter away from the lighthouse, which apparently doubled as a meeting point during cautionary alerts. He found Brock, May, and Max straggling in one part of the mass, while Ash and Jovi were rediscovered on the other side.

Once they were all together, they looked up at the mayor of Slateport City, a portly man with a suit that just had to be made-to-order, and with a large, obviously fake toupee. Michael wondered, in a detached sort of way, how this idiot had managed to become a mayor of any city beyond a population of two.

He mostly tuned out the mayor's speech – it didn't really concern him all that much, and he didn't like hearing politicians talk. Their double-language was as clear to him as words in a picture book, so he was more than a little disgusted when he listened to them.

"– and because of the recent activity of the criminal league Cipher," Michael's head snapped up and he paid attention at this, "the Pokemon Contest Grand Festival has been postponed until further notice, as well as the Ever Grande City Pokemon League."

The cries of the dissenters in the crowd were just deafening. It certainly didn't help that both May and Ash were in that group _and_ were screaming in his ear.

Even as Michael clapped his hands to his ears to stifle the sound, he was aware of two other people fast approaching their little group. One was taller than Brock. He had purple hair and green eyes. His fashion sense was apparently a minor, mostly dead part of his brain. What other kind of idiot would wear a Cacturne outfit? Michael wasn't even sure that that person was a man.

The second, however, was recognized with despair. It was that guy, Drew, who had a hitherto-unknown crush on May. He clearly hadn't changed at all from yesterday, aside from the downright thunderous scowl he wore. _Better not mess with him today_, Michael thought anxiously.

He couldn't really see why everyone was so worked up over a few cancelled events. What was the big deal of not carrying out a Pokemon Contest in favor of protecting everyone's Pokemon? It was just that sort of attitude that would get him in trouble if he didn't try figuring things out, and soon.

"Well, May, it seems as though I won't have the pleasure of beating you in the Grande Festival now," the tall guy said in a strangely high voice.

May growled. "We'll just see about that, Harley! I could beat you anytime, anywhere!"

Before things could escalate, Michael waved his hands in a 'calm down' motion. "There's no reason to fight over something like that, May." He eyed Drew with a speculative look. The green-haired Coordinator was still giving him the evil eye. There had to be some reason why he was so angry at him.

Acting on a hunch, he sidestepped a few paces away from May and turned his back on her, apparently looking for something. He was right, it seemed; Drew stopped glaring at him, if only slightly.

Michael smiled inwardly – he didn't like anyone that way just yet. He would prefer someone who wasn't so excitable. Though he had to admit that May was a nice enough girl, she was a bit too hyper for someone as serious as him to tolerate for long. Besides, she seemed to think of Drew the same way he thought of her, though neither was brave enough to admit it.

So it looked like, for now, that he would have to deal with being unattached to anyone short of his family.

It was a good thing that he wasn't spacing like the rest of them were. Michael felt an unnatural chill in the air long before the others did. He turned back to his friends, instantly concerned. Drew noticed next, his jade eyes snapping up to lock with Michael's near-identical ones.

Michael made no obvious move, but he had already recognized the sensation as the aura of a Shadow Pokemon. After Snagging so many of them from Cipher, he had gained the ability to sense their presence, since there was something wholly unnerving about it. A Shadow Pokemon's aura radiated sorrow and sometimes anger, but mostly dull, blank hopelessness. It was one of those feelings that made one want to comfort whoever broadcasted it. Unless, of course, you were on the receiving end of a Shadow attack.

Then you were only interested in fleeing with your extremities intact.

Without breaking the staring contest with Drew, Michael's right hand went to his belt. He pulled off two Pokeballs, and gave a low whistle.

Jovi froze. She slowly changed her gaze from May's face to Michael's, and noticed the two Pokeballs he had out.

His sister took a huge breath and shouted, "There's a sale in the marketplace! The Energy Guru is selling his products for half-price!"

_That_ cleared out the crowd. Within minutes, the only people still standing in front of the lighthouse were Michael, Jovi, their little entourage, and the very confused mayor. The latter soon left, too.

Harley, the one with the Cacturne outfit, walked up to Jovi, a look of mock surprise and suspicion on his face. "Now, honey, why did you go and do that? It's not very nice to lie." The guy's tone was so sneering that it made Michael's ears hurt, but he had more important things to focus on.

"But Jovi wasn't lying." Jovi replied, looking confused as she furrowed her brow like a child born to deceit. "Energy Guru _is_ selling Proteins and Zincs and stuff for half-price."

Quite suddenly, Harley was gone, too. Everyone was pretty sure they could still see the little dust cloud he'd left behind. He didn't particularly mind that Drew had stayed; he seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders and some discretion.

"_Finally_," drawled a voice that Michael found eccentrically familiar. "The distractions are gone."

Hovering out from behind the lighthouse, piloting a UFO-like craft, was a person Michael had wished he'd never have to see again.

The pink pigtails were completely unmistakable, especially since they hung to the girl's knees. Her light green eyes were lined with heavy black mascara, and her eye shadow was a sickly color, just a shade lighter than the eyes themselves. Her outfit was the same uniform as any of the lower female Cipher Admins – a light blue and white dress with boots so high that they doubled as socks and pants.

The perky, sadistic, yet completely bubblebrained evil scientist otherwise known as Lovrina – Michael's second (and by far the most irritating) opponent within Cipher – was giving him her best glare.

Michael wasn't cowed. He's defeated her twice – once to Snag her Shadow Delcatty, and again to get her Farfetch'd and Altaria, which was in his party at the moment. This wouldn't end any differently. He would beat her again, no matter how much he wished he'd never have to Snag another Pokemon again.

* * *

"Hey, it's the twerps." Meowth remarked to his teammates from his vantage point inside the lighthouse. "That redhead twerp's still with them." Team Rocket had taken to calling Ash and his friends by nicknames, none of which were used in the singular term very often. It was always 'twerps'. Ash was the only one who got the title of the singular 'twerp'. May got 'girl twerp' as a title.

Now there were two more twerps – the 'redhead twerp' and that 'blue twerp'.

In addition, the weird lady in the UFO with pink hair was bothering them. As was their way, Team Rocket simply could not allow a chance to steal Pikachu pass idly by.

Meowth grinned and called to his teammates, who were sleeping a few feet away, "Hey, Jessie, James! Twerps sighted at twelve o'clock!" Which they weren't, since Meowth had never really bothered to figure out which times on a clock meant what.

Instantly, his teammates were up and alert, though looking in the wrong direction. "Your _other_ twelve!"

Jessie huffed and both of them spun around as asked.

Sure enough, it was indeed the twerps (plus one green-haired guy that they couldn't name) facing off against the woman with the pink hair.

Jessie's face split into the freaky smile that her two friends had dubbed "Evil Plotting in Progress". Very little that got in Jessie's way when she wore that look was going to get off unscathed. Well, the twerps were exceptions to that rule.

Meowth watched the ensuing battle with interest – if there was going to be an opportunity to get Pikachu, they were going to be there to seize it.

* * *

"So, you're back." Michael remarked coolly, his gaze gone flat and his tone emotionless. He hadn't called out either of his chosen Pokemon – tradition dictated that the challenger released his Pokemon first. Besides, Lovrina was irritating for another reason; she always insisted on ladies first, even though she was about as far from ladylike as such things go.

Lovrina smirked coyly, though her charms were so poor that they didn't even affect Brock. Then she let her internal, eternal whining break through. "No thanks to you, you naughty little boy. Oh, you mean, nasty boy, you don't know how hard I worked on our XD001 Shadow! It was supposed to be impossible to Purify, but you cheated and found a way around it! How very rude."

"The concept of Shadow Pokemon has no reason to exist. They were created to serves as broken-willed tools. I'm rather surprised that you were so foolish to believe that that sort of taint would last very long against the light." Michael gave her a frankly dubious look, with one eyebrow raised in mockery.

At this, Lovrina's look of death returned, and her lips twisted into an undeniably corrupted smirk, one that Michael couldn't remember ever seeing before. He felt his stress level skyrocket. Lovrina had never been a pushover, but she had been the first Cipher Admin he'd fought against. There was a certain degree of caution that was even more needed now, especially since she seemed to have been doing something to her attitude.

"You would know that very well, wouldn't you?" she said in that sickeningly insinuating tone. Michael froze, for once actually hearing real malice and sanity in her voice. "Ever wonder why you never could seem to get along properly with anyone since your father was killed? Ever wonder why you never could feel the peace that was all around you?"

To tell the truth, he had dwelled on it for a time. After that incident, he never had been able to see the full joy in much of anything, nor could he get close to people that he hadn't met before. He'd been alone, mostly, and while Jovi and their mother had tried to help him, there wasn't really anything they could do.

"Michael, look out!" At the sound of Ash's voice, Michael's gaze snapped up from the ground. Instead of seeing Lovrina, as expected, he found himself facing a very aggressive Vileplume and an Absol that did not look like it would object to pulling him apart. It took all of a tenth of a second for Michael to come to the conclusion that dodging was a very, very good idea.

He threw himself out of harm's way, but it would only take a moment for Lovrina's Pokemon to recover from their fall and attack again. Even as he landed on his backside on the cement, he was pulling out the Pokeballs he'd selected earlier and tossing them at the opposition.

Materializing in a burst of white light were a Shadow Lapras and his Shadow Scyther. There was some chance that Lovrina's two Pokemon were Shadows, but he would he preferred it if they weren't. There was simply too much to deal with at once.

Just then, the Aura Reader on his ear went off. It seemed that they were, in fact, Shadows. Looking through the tiny screen, he assessed their levels, types, and obvious weaknesses.

So absorbed was he in contemplating his next move that he forgot how much damage the opposing Shadows could do. As soon as they had regained their bearings, they had rushed Michael's pair too soon for them to react. Sure, Scyther might be able to counterattack in time, but Lapras was much too slow.

She could be hurt, or worse.

At that instant, a massive bolt of electricity, along with a shower of pick flower petals and a blast of spiral-shaped fire engulfed the Absol and the Vileplume. Michael's eyes shot to his side, where he saw Jovi and Ash coordinating their lightning strikes while May and Drew used their Contest attacks to stave off the opponent.

_I'm not alone. I don't need to bear the stress alone._ Michael grinned; cliché as the thought was, it gave him hope, and enough sense to start charging the two Ultra Balls he needed.

As soon as the smoke from the attacks cleared, Michael flung one of the balls at the Vileplume, who was rather…crispy, for lack of a better term. As soon as he saw the capture's success through, he chucked the second at the Absol. It too was a perfect catch. There was only one problem with this entire arrangement.

Lovrina had fled in the commotion, and now Michael was no closer to getting his answers than he had ever been. What had all that blabbering been about? Vaguely, he heard May and the others assuring Drew of Michael's trustworthiness, though he remained unconvinced.

Brock broke off from them, and joined Michael's search of the skies. "What was that about?" he asked. From his relaxed stance, the taller boy had evidently forgiven him for whatever it was that he had done.

"I know her from fighting Cipher, but I don't know what she wants." Michael shook his head, feeling crushing despair for the first time since his confrontation with Team Snagem at the S.S. Libra's wreck. _Now_ what was he supposed to do? It was true that he still had the Snag Machine and everyone was intact, but…he was still a kid. How could anyone be expected to deal with his father's killers more than once in their life?

There was a long pause between the two, even as the background noises of May and Drew arguing had begun to escalate.

"I can see why you needed to save the Shadow Pokemon by any means possible, though I don't approve of the method." Brock said finally. Michael nodded numbly. He wasn't really paying attention anymore. Though it was still before noon, he wasn't really in the mood to do much of anything anymore.

After a time of not bothering to fill the silence, which wasn't really silent, all things considered, Drew finally decided to confront Michael directly. There hadn't been much to the demand: just a very simple, to-the-point request to speak in private.

Michael decided that he could come to like this other boy, though there was a question of how long they'd get along.

* * *

Drew was very, very concerned. It was true that he was a fairly independent and strong-willed person, since he rarely conformed to anything if he could help it. He had been traveling on his own for two solid years after receiving his Roselia as a gift. He trusted his own judgment above all else, except for one little thing.

He liked May. He would never, ever be able to trust his own decision on that particular topic, and was far too stubborn to ask for someone else's opinion. However, today had been a perfect example of his uncompromising personality. This new guy, Michael was clearly a strange person steeped in secrets, though he was a little more like a puzzle box with its key locked inside.

It wasn't that he didn't have any secrets; heck, he had more than the average politician, it was rather like he didn't have any answers, either. Like someone else had stolen his answer sheet.

Upon meeting Michael for the first time, back in Kingler's, Drew had developed a degree of dislike for the boy that was just barely exceeded by his loathing for Harley. He was also a very honest person – Drew would admit that he was jealous of the apparent new object of May's affections.

It was true that Drew was very critical by nature, but he couldn't help but feel as if, on that first meeting, he had missed the point entirely. Michael hadn't been rude or snobbish, just indifferent. From what the pink-haired monster had suggested, it seemed as if the supposed jerk he'd come off as was just because he didn't really know how to act around people.

Drew finally stopped walking when they'd turned the next street corner, which was strangely deserted.

"You wanted to talk?" the redhead asked finally. Drew gave him a long look, and he fell silent.

The green-haired boy had a feeling that Michael was almost as quiet as any mute. He rarely revealed his feelings, Drew surmised, and was still keeping them bottled up until he exploded or something.

Drew wasn't stupid by any means. Even when May had only been telling him how Michael had reacted to the Cipher people earlier, he got the distinct impression that there was a lot of rage behind his façade of nonchalance. A lot of rage that could be released at the drop of a hat, or rather, a Pokeball.

After the tense quiet, Drew inquired, "Who are you?"

That took the other boy by surprise. However, Michael smiled soon after and replied softly, "A lot more than even I know, apparently. I'm sorry, but I can't give you much of an answer when I don't have a clue what it is anymore.

"Up until today, I thought I was Michael of Orre, born in Phenac City to a renowned Pokemon researcher and his wife. At age seven, my father was killed not a block from my house, and while the murderer's affiliation was known, no one would tell me what had happened. When I turned twelve, my friends and family at the Pokemon HQ Lab completed their version of the criminal organization Team Snagem's Snag Machine. I was instructed on the basics, and told to go off and help stop the second-generation Cipher, which consisted of trainers like Lovrina who wanted power.

"I did better than they asked, but…" Michael paused, and then continued to tell Drew of his adventure in Orre while he had fought Cipher. He'd discovered that his father had been murdered by a person who was no longer active in that organization (Drew could only imagine how crushing that must have felt), that his entire world had once been plagued by the sorry creatures known as Shadow Pokemon who had been forced to become such against their will, and that his family was about as for from safe as could be unless he did everything in his power to take them down.

In all, it helped Drew gain a new perspective on this person that he had once thought of as his greatest competition for May's heart. Michael wasn't interested in May, since she simply wasn't his type, but he did want to make sure she was safe, as he would want for any person who wasn't directly involved with Cipher.

Eventually, the discussion was over, and Drew knew that he would need to reevaluate this boy, who had been through too much to possibly despise. He would help Michael, he decided right then and there.

It wasn't as if he had anything better to do, with the Grand Festival cancelled.

* * *

**A/N**: I'm very, very, very sorry about the long wait, but I definitely made this chapter longer! Over six thousand words went into this, so I hope this makes up for the delay.

Ah, who am I kidding? Four months is ridiculous! I will most definitely work harder to not have this happen again, okay?

Thanks for everyone who's stuck with me this far.

Lang Noi, signing out.


	4. The Battle of Wills

Chapter Four: Battle of Wills

A/N: This is taking a while… Gah, I hate writing Drew's character. I despise him in certain parts of the anime, but in others he's a lot better than May and her little friends.

So, I guess I really hate characterizing Ash. Why? Because he's your typical shounen hero with a huge appetite and massive amounts of dumb luck, along with a mouth bigger than his skill and a head that's a good bit emptier than the majority of his Pokeballs. But then, he has one real redeeming quality – he's got a good heart. Otherwise he might have been written out of this.

Max is a bit irritating, but he's no different from the average little brother. I guess I can understand that because I have one, though he isn't average. I like to have characters with siblings to explore the typical relationship, so Max gets the seal of approval.

May is everything I'm not. I don't whine nearly as much, and arguments with my brother rarely result in my being upstaged in common sense. She is fascinated with flashy effects and girly things like her appearance compared to, say, celebrities. Still, I can see the sisterly concern that's a part of her personality, so she scoots by, too. Out of these characters, May is my least favorite.

Brock is the big brother I wouldn't have a clue how to deal with. He's a flirt, which I am not, can cook well, and has his feet planted firmly on solid ground. He does know what he's doing often, except for when the question is of directions to the next town. I'd like to have a character like him in my stories more often, but I suppose most of my ideas are too wacky for the down-to-earth, responsible one.

Michael is, well, a male copy of myself, with angst added in because it seems to fit him, and his past isn't really expanded upon at all. When sections of the story revolve around him, I can write easier. His in-game personality is what you want it to be, and he seems to be a much calmer person than the others. Best example – he does not run when the XD001 appears, when any lesser person would. Or any sane one, but that's beside the point.

On with the story!

* * *

Even if Michael had finally made peace with the green-haired Coordinator, he wasn't really at ease. He wondered about that for about a minute, then shook his head as he rejoined his friends. After all, with Lovrina gone, what could possibly happen next? It wasn't as if Cipher would send out more troops to replace a defeated Admin.

Michael thought that over, then decided that it was safer if he'd just stick by Ash and the others. There was no telling what Cipher would do if it found out that he was in Hoenn.

However, Michael had to suppress a wince when he thought of his new friends and the fact that they had no idea what Cipher was capable of. If they got hurt…the thought raised an unexpected lump in his throat, and it was then that Michael knew that, in their own way, they were just as important to him as Jovi.

Ash, he noted, eyed Drew with veiled dislike. Michael supposed that they'd had an unpleasant run-in once or twice. May wasn't glaring, exactly, but she looked as though she was arguing with Jovi over something.

Michael strode over, and listened with a vaguely detached air as the brunette vented on his little sister, to no real effect.

"What do you mean 'I've faced more danger than you ever will'?!" May demanded, her blue eyes narrow with anger. Michael wondered, just for a minute, if that was what he would have been like if Cipher hadn't showed up. A normal kid, on a normal Pokemon journey to beat all the gyms…he mentally shuddered. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he sort of enjoyed the action-filled life of a Snagger. A Snagger once was a Snagger forever, he decided.

Jovi, for her part, acted as if nothing had happened at all. "Jovi means 'May has never had to fight for any real reason'. This is Hoenn, and Jovi knows that Hoenn is much safer than Orre."

May looked like she was going to explode. "That doesn't tell me anything!"

"Jovi and big brother grew up in the scarier part of Orre, the east. Does May think that Jovi and big brother do not know what danger is? Does May think that her life as the daughter of the Petalburg City Gym Leader could _begin_ to compare to the life Jovi and big brother have had?" Jovi asked with an unheard-of edge in her voice. Michael wondered if Jovi's sudden aggressiveness was because she'd been exposed to so many new people. She'd never use that tone at home, much less in front of someone older than her.

"Jovi…" Michael began in what he hoped was a placating tone. Jovi's blue-haired head whipped towards him, and as their eyes met, the angry little girl was gone, replaced by his cheerfully crazy little sister.

She smiled widely and spun on her heel, her back now to the fuming May. "Big brother, what should we do now?"

More than a little disturbed by Jovi's sudden mood change, Michael simply told her to ask Ash or Brock. Flustered, Michael watched Jovi skip over to Ash and question him in her high-pitched voice.

Clearly, Michael wasn't the only one who was letting the mental walls drop. He doubted that she was as high-strung as he had been in the recent past, but it wouldn't hurt to step lightly around the little girl who'd suddenly learned how to bite.

His little sister was growing up.

* * *

Being a Pokemon thief sucked more than James would fully admit to himself. No benefits, no insurance policy…heck, he honestly wondered why he even bothered with the entire affair.

Ah, now he remembered. Jessie and Meowth were his best friends, despite whatever problems the three of them went through. Even if he was offered a better life somewhere else, James doubted he could change if his friends weren't allowed to come along.

The aforementioned 'better life' would have to exclude anyone who handed off assignments to him. James hated the 'Boss', no matter how much the three of them struggled to please him. The leader of Team Rocket was as distant as their dreams, but far more commanding. Whoever he really was, the head of Team Rocket may as well have been his parents and Jessibelle rolled into one. He was every bit as domineering.

Today, the three of them were to report to him on any successful Pokemon captures (which never happened), to inform him of any developments on rival Pokemon thieves (which were practically absent), and to beg him for funds (as always).

This time, however, was a little different.

Jessie and Meowth were a little sore over the loss of their signature balloon, but nothing compared to the news they could give the boss now: a second hidden organization was trying for a spot in Kanto's pecking order.

It had seemed, though, that the Boss already knew about it. Apparently, Cassidy and B…whatever-his-name-was had told him of their encounter with the freaks in white already. They, however, hadn't managed to find out this group's leader's identity, or even its name.

Thus, it was with great pride that Jessie told the Boss that they knew what the name of this new criminal organization was – Cipher.

The three of them had discovered this small fact by listening in on the twerps and their friends at the Pokemon Center, though James was inclined to believe that the name wasn't the important part. He had paid a slight bit more attention than the other two and heard the redhead talk about what the group _did_ rather than who they _were_.

Whatever horrific deeds Team Rocket was capable of, James feared the very _idea_ of what Cipher did to its members' Pokemon. Perhaps Jessie and Meowth didn't quite realize what that could mean if Cipher replaced Team Rocket as the dominant evil group. James shuddered inwardly at the thought of his beloved Cacnea or Chimecho turning into heartless monsters because of a machine.

To their great shock, the Boss decided to give them two more Pokemon to try and capture their targets with. Jessie got a Crobat and James was awarded with a Golem. While Jessie and Meowth thought their fortunes were turning around, James viewed it as a sign of the apocalypse. The Boss _never_ rewarded them for anything, nor did he hold them in any sort of regard. And the blue-haired man was getting some _very_ bad vibes from the Great Ball in his hand, in a way he couldn't explain.

As they signed off with their Boss, Jessie and Meowth were already starting to plot their next attempt to capture Pikachu. In all likelihood, they would fail yet again, but that had never stopped them before.

* * *

"So, tell me more about this 'Team Rocket' of yours." Michael prompted as the seven of them sat down for lunch at the Pokemon Center. "Why are they after your Pikachu?"

Drew sat next to May, while Ash was on May's other side. Max and Jovi took up the innermost section of the semicircular table, with Brock directly opposite Ash and Michael between him and the youngest two. The accommodations were rather cramped, but it helped that everyone except for Brock was about five feet tall or less.

Ash scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, I started out as a Pokemon trainer about two years ago. Pikachu was my first Pokemon and we didn't really get along at first." Michael glanced from Pikachu, who was on the floor eating Pokemon chow, back to Ash, uncomprehending.

Ash continued, "I tried to capture a Spearow on my own, since Pikachu didn't feel like I should tell him what to do. Turns out I got a whole flock mad at me. Anyway, Pikachu jumped in to save me and got hurt pretty badly. While I was trying to get him to the Pokemon Center in Viridian City, I met Misty and borrowed her bike."

Since Michael had no idea who this 'Misty' was, he felt like he'd missed something very important. He decided not to ask about her, though, in case it made Ash lose his train of thought.

"Well, the Spearow ended up catching up to us. I was the one who'd bothered them in the first place, and Pikachu was injured, so I tried to protect him. I think they might have killed me if Pikachu hadn't stepped in. He got supercharged from a bolt of lightning and blew them away!" Despite the fact that that was probably the climax of the story, Ash didn't seem overly excited about it. Well, when compared to how he was normally.

Michael, however, had found a snag. "So how do those three come into this?"

Ash shrugged. "When I got to the Pokemon Center with Pikachu, they tried to steal all the Pokemon that had been healed there. Pikachu got recharged by a lot of other Pikachu that were in the Pokemon Center, just in time to send them blasting off for the first time. Unfortunately, he took the roof of the Pokemon Center out, too."

Michael, who was trying to imagine what it would be like to go through all that, was still full of questions. Apparently, so were Jovi, Max, and May. Drew didn't look like he cared and Brock seemed like he'd heard it all before.

"How did Pikachu-?" Jovi was about to ask, but all the questions she and the others had were fatally distracted by the arrival of lunch – hamburgers, hotdogs, and fries all around. Drew had even ordered onion rings.

Even as Michael set about working on his meal (a hamburger and two hotdogs), he was already thinking about switching to his primary Pokemon team and leaving the Purifying of this latest batch to Professor Crane and his mother. There was no way he was going to be caught flat-footed if Cipher brought out _its_ A-team.

The burgers and hotdogs were finished in short order, and while the Ash, May, Jovi, and Max stuck around to fight over the fries; the other three had better things to do. Drew was off to the restroom to wash the oil from his hands. Brock had called out his Mudkip and made himself busy providing the little mud-fish with food.

Michael strolled over to the PC for the second time in two days to get into contact with Professor Krane.

The friendly professor, complete with squinty eyes and thick glasses, appeared on screen within ten seconds. He was much more awake than last time, probably because Michael had decided not to call him at eight in the morning and he'd had a chance to get his six cups of coffee into his system.

"Hello again, Michael," Krane greeted, seeming very cheerful. "Is there something you need?"

Michael nodded gravely. "Professor, Cipher has made a comeback," he said, determined to get the bad news over with as quickly as possible.

The easy smile slipped off the man's face to be replaced by shock. "Already? They required five years to regroup last time…"

"I think they had help," the redhead responded, cutting him off. "There's a criminal group that's active in Johto and Kanto called Team Rocket that may be trying to branch out into Hoenn with the help of Cipher's Shadow Pokemon. They're the same as Team Snagem was during the first Cipher's time." He paused, trying to reorganize the information and theories he'd been working off of since twenty minutes ago. "I think their primary target could be a boy named Ash Ketchum."

Krane was a calculating man, but only when no one else was looking. There was no other way he could have regrouped after the loss of his best friend and continued that friend's work. Michael almost thought of the brown-haired man as an uncle.

"Do you know this boy?" Professor Krane asked, eyes closed tightly. He never liked to hear that, sometimes, children had to be brought into an adults' conflict. He had protested Michael's participation in the Snagging of Shadow Pokemon, but Michael and most of the scientists had overridden him. Michael was living to regret all that stubborn rage he'd had when he'd said 'yes'.

"Yeah," Michael responded shortly. "I'll do what I can to keep Cipher away from him and his friends, but to do that I need my best team."

Krane blinked, but he set up the transfer nonetheless. "Is there a reason for this?"

Michael nodded. "Remember that Cipher Admin who had you kidnapped?"

"She's back, isn't she? Lovrina?" Krane asked with a shudder.

"Yeah," Michael said. "Had an unpleasant encounter with her earlier today." He set Neptune's Pokeball on the platform used to transfer Pokemon. He placed the rest of them with hers, after thinking about it for a second. "I'll need Moondance, Corona, Iceberg, Amps, Cappy, and Telemon."

"It's been a while since you called on Moondance." Krane commented as he gathered the requested Pokemon. "You had her with you until she kitted, right?"

"Uh-huh. Neptune took her place for a while, but since Moondance is her mother and my strongest Pokemon, I suppose there's no replacing my first partner." Michael answered, smiling for the first time since the conversation started. It would be nice to see Moondance again.

The switch was completed in a blaze of while light from the transfer machine, all six Pokeballs being replaced at once.

"Thanks, Professor. Could you put all the Shadows over there on the Purify Chamber?" As the professor nodded in response and turned away, Michael signed off.

"Come on out, Moondance." Michael said softly, tossing her Pokeball into the air.

In a flash of white lightning, Moondance the Umbreon materialized.

She was almost entirely normal-looking and could have been mistaken for any other Umbreon, if it weren't for the white scar along her side that was a memento of her first battle against a Shadow Pokemon.

As soon as she turned around and saw Michael, she gave a happy cry and leapt on him, licking his face. Michael laughed, struggling to keep her from knocking him over.

The black Pokemon's voice attracted the others' attention, and Jovi in particular was overjoyed to see her brother's first Pokemon again.

"Moony!" Jovi squealed, running over and hugging the Umbreon tightly. "Jovi hasn't seen Moony since Moony had little Eevee babies. Jovi missed Moony!" Moondance gave a sigh of content despite being in the nine-year-old's crushing embrace. Moondance had grown up with both Jovi and Michael, though the redhead had technically been her trainer.

"Who's this?" Ash asked. Pikachu had no problem with immediately befriending the Eevee evolution, extending a paw in Moondance's direction as soon as the Umbreon was released from Jovi's grip. Moondance purred in response.

"Oh, right. Allow me to introduce my first Pokemon: the Eevee-turned-Umbreon, Moondance." Michael said with a grin. He pulled out his other Pokeballs. "I decided to get my best Pokemon from Professor Krane so we could spend some time together." Of course, this was a lie, but Ash needed to know least of all. Unless they asked for it, boys generally didn't want help.

"What other Pokemon do you have?" May asked. Brock seemed only vaguely interested, while Max was so obviously curious that it was almost pathetic. Drew emerged from the bathroom, but he was apparently more occupied with pampering his newly-summoned Roselia.

Michael tossed the other five Pokeballs into the air, by way of a response.

Out of the blinding flash appeared five more Pokemon. One was a Breloom, Cappy, who was idly bouncing from foot to foot, the cloven hoofs on his stretchy arms pulled back as if to punch the nearest damageable target. Telemon, a male Gardevoir, swayed from side to side as if under the influence of his favorite song. Ampy the female Ampharos gave a braying call, overjoyed to be out of the Pokeball at last. The male Walrein, Iceberg, took one look around at everyone and dropped his head to the floor, asleep. The last was Corona, a female Houndoom, who walked up to Pikachu and licked him.

Everyone laughed. Houndoom were thought to be vicious because of their fearful appearance, but a Houndoom was just as affectionate – if not more so – as any baby Pokemon. The harsh natures that served them well as Houndour were almost unnecessary in their evolved forms because of the incredible power boost that came with evolution.

"Except for Moondance, all of these Pokemon were once Shadow Pokemon that I Snagged and Purified when I was just starting out." Michael explained. His friends could not be allowed to forget that he and his Pokemon were every bit as dangerous as a Gym Leader and their Pokemon. They wouldn't be allowed to forget the danger they were in. "Also, when I was facing Greevil, I had all of these Pokemon with me with the exception of Telemon and Moondance. Moondance had a litter of babies at that point, and Telemon wanted to be there with her. So instead of them, I had the Shadow Lugia and Neptune."

"It seems like it would be hard to battle without your first Pokemon helping." May said, stroking Amps's head fondly.

Michael shrugged. "There was no way I was going to bring Moondance with me so soon after she had kits. The little Eevee wouldn't have gotten along very well without their mother."

The others, with the exception of Drew and Brock, continued to bombard him with questions about his Pokemon for the better part of an hour. They ranged from 'where did you get Moondance' to 'was it hard to get them to evolve'.

When they finally let up, he was suddenly struck by an idea. "Jovi, I know it's a bit early for you to have a real first Pokemon, but your birthday's coming up, so…" Michael turned the PC on again, going to his virtual Pokemon list. "Are you going to pick which first-stage Pokemon you want? I mean, Salt and Pepper technically belong to you, but Mom raised them to where they are now, and the Mightyena was originally a Shadow Pokemon."

Jovi nodded, very solemn. Michael continued, "You don't have to release Pepper and Salt, Jovi. Mightyena can stay with you as long as she wants, too. All the same, though, do you want to try and raise a Pokemon on your own?"

Now smiling cheerfully, Jovi nodded again. Michael stepped aside to allow her to pick in private, and he herded his friends away to that same end.

To his surprise, Drew was the one who spoke first. "Are you sure that's a good idea? She doesn't even have her trainer's license yet."

"Well, I'm doing this mostly because there isn't a Pokemon Lab that starts Orre trainers on their way." Michael said carefully, thinking about how to explain the harshness of Orre without scaring any of the others. "You either have a Pokemon given to you by someone you know or you catch one for yourself. Otherwise you're out of luck."

"You mean that no one cares whether a kid gets to be a Pokemon trainer or not?" Max asked, looking surprised.

Michael shook his head. "Only partially. The fact is, there are still very few wild Pokemon in Orre because of the climate. If you don't get a Pokemon from one of those two ways, there literally is no other way. The Pokemon HQ wouldn't be able to find enough Pokemon for all the new trainers."

Brock nodded. "From what I've heard of Orre, the western half of the region was turned into a desert after Mt. Battle erupted fifty years ago. No one knows enough about the ecosystem to repair the damage quickly."

"Right." Ash said. "So what does this have to do with the lack of Pokemon?"

"There aren't a lot of Pokemon that can survive in deserts. Trapinch and Sandshrew can, but Pokemon like Oddish and Staryu could never do that." Brock explained with all the patience of a saint. "It's not unusual to find only two or three species of Pokemon in a desert compared to twenty or more in a forest.

"In Orre's entire western region, there are literally nine species of Pokemon. The eastern part has more, but they're not seen very often because of their fear of humans. Most of the Pokemon in Orre are actually from places like Hoenn and Kanto." Michael added, glancing over to where his sister was still scanning the Pokemon profiles stored in his account on the PC.

"…So everyone needs to receive a Pokemon as a gift or he has nothing. Okay, I get it." Drew summed up, returning his attention to his Roselia, who was spinning on one foot out of boredom.

At that moment, Jovi made a noise that sounded a lot like "SQUEEE". Michael's head whipped around and he strode over to his sister, wondering what she'd picked to be her Pokemon.

Duking's traded Larvitar.

Michael wondered if he should be nervous or not. This Larvitar was female, as well as being very mild and well-behaved, but that didn't mean that Michael had forgotten how powerful its fully-evolved form was. There was always the question if Jovi would be able to handle a Tyranitar if it got out of control.

Then again, people had wondered that about Michael when he had first obtained the Legendary Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Lugia.

"Sure." Michael said, instead of giving the nagging feeling in his head a voice. He typed out a few commands on the computer performing the one-way transfer without further disturbing Professor Krane. The man had enough on his mind.

When her Pokeball containing Larvitar materialized in the slot, Michael picked it up and handed it to his sister. "Take good care of Larvitar, okay?" he asked.

Jovi may as well have nodded without thinking. With glee she called out her four Pokemon, giving Michael barely enough time to recall all of his except for Moondance.

The Minun Pepper and the Plusle Salt jumped and met in midair for a high-five that conjured a rain of sparks. Mightyena glanced at Pikachu, who had joined the two cheering Pokemon in their spark-making, then walked up to Michael and sat next to Moondance, who looked as bored as the black dog. The last Pokemon, Larvitar, looked up expectantly at Jovi, who complied by picking her up and hugging her.

Michael absently scratched Mightyena behind the ears as he watched his sister get to know her 'starter' Pokemon. "Well, now I know for sure that Mom won't have to give her a Baltoy or something."

Max, who had been fiddling with May's PokeNav the entire time, spoke up. "Want to go to the beach?"

* * *

And that was how the entire group ended up at the Slateport beach at one o'clock in the afternoon with the sun blazing and the shore packed.

It seemed like everyone in the city was there, which made sense in a way. If there was not going to be a Grand Festival, a lot of the tourists had decided to either enjoy what they _could_ do or just go home. That meant that the south half of Slateport City – the half with the museum, the market, and the beach – was crowded so thoroughly that you couldn't walk in a straight line without bumping into someone. Or stepping on them, in the case of those who decided to use towels rather than the beach chairs that were already there.

Though Michael was wearing a pair of swimming trunks, he was not interested in actually going in to test the water. Seawater, no matter what time of the year it was, was always cold to him. Jovi, on the other hand, had pulled on her blue-and-white swimsuit and was currently playing with Max, May, Ash and Iceberg the Walrein in the water about twenty feet away. Brock was fishing some distance off, and Drew was lying on the beach chair next to Michael, apparently asleep. His Roselia sat on the edge of the white plastic table between them, sipping ice water while wearing sunglasses. Moondance was under the table and the pinstriped umbrella suspended over both boys. She didn't like being overheated by her black fur and amused herself by stealing Roselia's ice cubes. The Umbreon was also lying on top of the Snag Machine, which had been taken off for the occasion.

Michael was about to drift off to sleep when he felt something unusual. It wasn't like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him. It wasn't as if there had been a cold sea breeze, either. It took his sleep-fogged brain a minute to realize exactly what was about to happen, and as soon as he did, he was running on pure adrenalin.

He shot up out of his resting position, accidentally knocking Roselia's glass onto Drew's chest, which woke him rather effectively. Moondance sensed something as much as he did, and she shot to her feet as well, quickly informing Drew's Roselia what was happening.

Drew, for the record, was a very light sleeper. Even if he hadn't been shocked awake by the dropped glass, Michael's sudden movement and the sound caused by it would have done the deed, only slower.

"Michael?" Drew asked, already groping for his Masquerain's Pokeball in his bag. His Flygon was available too, but he didn't really want to reveal that particular secret before the Hoenn Grand Festival…screw it, he could find a new secret weapon later. He fixed his fingers around his dragon's Pokeball as the other hand found Masquerain's. Roselia was already out, and Drew would be able to command her freely if push came to shove.

"Shadow Pokemon" the redhead replied. "Can't tell what kind, so…" He tossed his chosen Pokeballs, summoning the creatures inside. Two Pokemon came out, in addition to Moondance and Iceberg, who had been there the whole time.

The Pokemon were Amps and Cappy, the respective Electric and Grass types of the team. At the same time, Drew called on his Flygon and Masquerain.

Drew's Pokemon took to the air, scouting for danger, as Moondance headed towards the swimmers, using her Screech attack to warn the swimmers of their group to get out of the water, pronto.

Jovi, who knew the redhead's ways better than anyone, predictably began herding everyone to shore, screaming to be heard over the Umbreon's frantic cries. "Get to shore, get to shore, get to shore! Hurry, Jovi doesn't know how long until something bad happens!" With that assurance, the rest of them ran as fast as they could while still knee-deep in seawater and soft sand.

As soon as they managed to reach shore (and Brock had returned from his fishing trip, having caught nothing), the water fifty feet from where they stood seemed to explode.

It was if someone had either dropped a grenade or done something very, very stupid involving water pressure over there.

Most of the people on the beach assumed it was a bomb. The mass panic that came with that was just _astounding_.

After about five minutes of avoiding being trampled by hysterical tourists by hiding behind the overturned chairs and the pinstriped umbrella, the seven of them emerged, covered in sand but otherwise unharmed. The Snag Machine was about three yards away, miraculously intact.

Everything else besides the important electronics was not so lucky. Most of their belongings looked like they'd been in an Orre sandstorm.

"And _that_ is why I hate crowds." Michael muttered, though Drew was pretty sure he was the only one who heard it. Then the redhead added, louder, "Sound off!"

Various yips and grunts seemed to come from the sand itself, until Michael's Pokemon team shook the fine particles from their fur. Roselia was next to Drew's leg, which made her a very lucky Pokemon. The only other one not sandy was Iceberg, who was still in the water, eyeing the explosion's starting point with suspicion.

"Stating the obvious here, but I think that whatever's over there _might_ be trouble." Drew said sarcastically, waving for his Flygon and Masquerain to take a closer look.

As Flygon drew close to the gurgling sea where the blast had been, a massive, red rubber glove shot from the water in an attempt to catch him. Flygon gave a screech and shot off at high speed, barely avoiding the appendage.

Hardly a moment later, the entire machine erupted from the water, spraying seaweed and wet sand over those on the beach.

The machination looked like a stylized iron crab with rubber glove-tipped hands rather than pincers, and only four legs. Even if it weren't for the bold red R stamped on the front, the three figures that emerged from its 'back' were recognizable enough.

Drew didn't deal with Team Rocket too often compared to what May and her friends had to endure, but he would recognize the costumed jokers anywhere.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie called, seemingly oblivious to the dragon still hovering around their heads. Drew's Flygon did not like being upstaged by anyone, or anything. He supposed it was a trait of a Pokemon who participated in Contests so often.

"And make it double!" James added. He hadn't noticed Flygon either. Flygon was charging a Hyper Beam apparently out of spite, while Masquerain hovered nearby, ready to fire her Ice Beam at a moment's notice. Drew wondered absently if he could signal for them to fire without giving the Rocket's too much time to respond. Roselia, who was still standing beside him, shook her head at the two of them, though she too had her half-active Solarbeam prepared.

"To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie cried, illustrating the grandness of it by throwing out her arm in a wide gesture.

Drew glanced at Michael's Pokemon. The yellow circles on Moondance were flashing dangerously, a sure sign that she was all set to attack in any manner the redhead chose. Amps's tail and forehead stones were pulsing and sparks were dancing along her ears, a charge-up for Thunderbolt if he ever saw one. A ball of white energy fizzled dangerously in the far-off Iceberg's mouth. Cappy's long tail lashed from side to side and his hoofs flexed as if in preparation for a throw-down.

_I wonder if they know they're being hypocrites._ Drew wondered.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," James continued.

_Nope._

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

_Now_. "Attack!" Drew called. Roselia complied happily, sending out a stream of white energy at the machine. At the same moment, Flygon and Masquerain unloaded their beams of power onto the thieves.

The Rockets panicked, with good reason, but it was Drew's turn to gawk when the blast fizzled out before even getting within ten feet of the target.

"Roselia?" Drew asked, stunned.

Roselia shrugged. She apparently didn't know what had happened, either.

Just then, there was a beeping noise that seemed to come from Drew's right. Glancing in that direction, Drew was stunned to see a tiny computer monitor, seemingly a hologram or made of plastic, extended out from the little machine on the side of Michael's headband to cover his left eye, like a glasses lens. As he watched, something flickered across the tiny screen.

The Rockets used the time provided by the trainers' reactions to the failed attack to finish their motto as fast as they could.

Finally, Michael spoke. "There are two Shadow Pokemon present, even if we can't see them right now. One of them is using Protect." He flexed the fingers on his left hand, as if he was aching to re-arm himself with the Snag Machine. Out of the corner of his eye, he made eye contact with Drew. "Can you get the Snag Machine?" he asked in a whisper.

Drew nodded as subtly as he could, then returned his attention to the major problem at hand – finding the two Shadows before they got a chance to attack.

"Roselia, use Ingrain." Drew commanded his best friend softly.

The Grass type gave him a salute with her blue rose and set to work extending her powers through the soft sand. It was hard for her – sand was a poor soil and hard to move when it was waterlogged, but she would do as he asked _because_ he had asked. Screw the difficulty.

Michael turned to him, the scanner on his headband still active. "I'll distract them if you can get to the Snag Machine. It's going to be a lot harder without it."

Drew didn't nod this time; Team Rocket had turned their attention back to the trainers.

"Hand over Pikachu, twerp!" Jessie called, hand out in a clear demonstration of what she meant.

"Never!" Ash shouted back. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Many things happened at once: The little electric mouse only needed a scant second to charge, and Team Rocket's machine took advantage of that. One of the 'hands' shot out and encased the Pokemon in its inflexible grasp. At the same moment, Iceberg the Walrein used his Ice Beam to freeze the hand trapping Pikachu. Cappy leapt into the air and, as if the entire fight had been choreographed, smashed the fist to smithereens using his fore-hoofs, freeing Pikachu. Drew chose that moment to snatch the Snag Machine from its resting place ten feet away and he had tossed it back to Michael before the Rockets had a chance to blink.

Michael slipped the device onto his arm, probably relishing the return of his control over the situation.

"Rose!" Drew's Roselia called sharply. Glancing back, Drew saw that she had definitely found what she was looking for with her roots.

"Tell Flygon and Masquerain where it is and get them to attack," he ordered, watching as Roselia gestured for the dragon to whip up the beach using Sandstorm. Roselia withdrew her root system moments before the sand was torn from the ground and hurled skyward. From between his lashes and fingers that had been drawn up to protect his eyes, Drew could just make out the Rocket machine, wobbling perilously with all three thieves still inside. There was no way for them to control whatever Pokemon was lurking in the sand.

Finally, the whipping sand and furious wind from Flygon's wings drew out exactly what Drew had been planning on finding.

A Golem, monstrous in both size and the sheer menace radiating from it, burst from the ground in the midst of a torrent of sand. As soon as Drew saw it, he felt something give out inside of him.

His hands shook. Drew could feel Michael shaking him, demanding to know what was wrong, but he was too numb to respond.

* * *

"That's _it_," Michael snarled at no one in particular, his right arm still on his friend's shoulder. Drew had suddenly hit the ground, with no explanation. He was like a puppet with the strings cut, and Michael could already feel his insides burning with anger. "Iceberg, use Water Pulse on Golem!"

The huge blue walrus did as he was commanded, rings of blue energy bursting from his mouth and striking the Rock Pokemon with devastating force. The animated boulder fell, smashing into the ground with such force that sand was thrown up on all sides.

He pulled an Ultra Ball out of the pocket in his trunks, then charged the ball in the Snag Machine. As he did so, a second Shadow Pokemon, a Crobat, flew out from behind the machine and sped at him, clearly intent on stopping him.

_This isn't going to be good._

Michael's teeth clenched and his eyes closed in preparation for the blow, but it never came. Looking up, he saw Drew's Flygon collide with the purple bat in midair.

Flygon uttered a cry that was full of an impossibly amount of rage, then slashed the hapless Crobat over and over with its Dragon Claw attack. The bat was bleeding heavily when it was finally allowed to fall by the vengeful dragon. Whoever said that Pokemon did not understand the concept of revenge was dead wrong.

Michael switched targets and flung the Ultra-turned-Snag Ball at Crobat instead. Even before the Ball acknowledged the capture, Michael had already pitched the second at Golem, hoping beyond hope that two things happened.

One: The Shadow Pokemon were Snagged.

Two: Whatever was affecting Drew was not life-threatening.

Though he was certain that the former was true, evidenced by the loud _ping_ that a Snag Ball made after a successful capture, he was not so sure about the latter.

* * *

A/N: What's wrong with Drew? Why did Giovanni give Jessie and James such powerful Pokemon? Why the heck didn't they command them?

Find out when the next chapter comes out (if ever)!

On a more serious note, tell me if you see any canonical errors or blatant misuse of the English language. I'm still learning how to use semicolons (;) correctly.

R and R, people.

Lang Noi, out.


	5. One Thing After Another

Chapter Five: One Thing After Another

A/N: I am so dead right now. Just read it. Then read the author's notes at the bottom, please.

* * *

As soon as Ash and Pikachu sent the Shadow-less Rockets blasting off yet again, Michael forced himself to calm down. It didn't really work that well; he was still firing on all cylinders as May finally came back to her senses and took the prone Drew's pulse.

"He's okay, I think." May said quietly, not really paying attention as the others craned in to look. "His heart's beating and everything…"

Michael nudged her to one side and put his fingers along Drew's pulse point. Once he confirmed that the green-haired boy was, indeed, alive, he pulled back one of Drew's eyelids. His pupil contracted, just like it would have if he was fully conscious. Michael was starting to wonder if there was a medical condition that made a person react badly to the presence of a Shadow Pokemon.

"Do any of you happen to know where the hospital is?" Michael asked, grabbing his black sweater from the pile of slightly-sandy clothes. He slipped it over Drew's head instead of using the Coordinator's shirt because the other boy had left most of his normal clothes at the Pokemon Center. Drew's temperature was dropping under his fingertips, and he had no idea why.

May coughed. "Actually, Slateport doesn't have a hospital." When Michael looked at her sharply, she explained, "Most of the problems we have are injured Pokemon, and there's a Pokemon Center for them. Only Petalburg City, Dewford, Mauville, Lilycove, and Rustboro City have hospitals. Slateport depends on the one in Mauville."

Michael shook his head disbelievingly. In Orre, every major city had a hospital. Even the areas that didn't still had a trained professional to deal with severe cases that could not be treated at home. Dr. Kaminko and the bartender at the Outskirt Stand were good examples.

"Who's gonna carry him?" Ash asked. Michael already knew. Apparently, so did the person in question, for Brock scooped the unresponsive Drew into his arms without hesitation. May looked at her rival in worry and nibbled on her lower lip, apparently trying not to cry. Jovi just looked from person to person in confusion, her hand on Max's shoulder.

Michael instructed Max and Jovi to try and salvage what remained of their belongings. As he did so, he recalled Iceberg and Amps. Cappy protested the idea, so Michael left him out. Moondance was a good fighter and armed with a powerful maternal instinct; she was staying out of her Pokeball as long as she could to provide protection for the seven of them as they made their way back to the Pokemon Center. There was no telling what sort of opponent they could run into while the city was in a panic over a false bomb scare.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Brock asked, seeming a tad impatient. Not that anyone blamed him; he had been stuck holding the insensible Drew while the rest of them had been preparing for departure.

"I think so." Max replied.

Drew's Roselia shyly tapped May on her left leg as they began to move out. "Rose?"

May smiled. "We won't call any of you into your Pokeballs. Drew is your trainer, not us." She patted the Grass-type on the head absently. "Will you come with us?"

Flygon gave a roar of assent and beat his wings, taking off in a whirl of dust. Masquerain, who had never landed, followed idly after her teammate, making a concerned noise every time she glanced at Drew.

"Okay." May gestured for Roselia to follow before she hurried to catch up with her friends, who were already specks in the distance. She had no doubt that Drew's partner would keep up, seeing as the little Pokemon had outmaneuvered hers on several occasions.

* * *

Half an hour later, May felt like pulling her hair out.

Nurse Joy, for all her skill in treating Pokemon, was a helpless lamb when it came to healing humans. Michael had lost patience some time ago and was typing something on his PDA. Max was in the waiting room, sleeping, while Jovi was on the phone with a brown-haired woman with light green eyes who seemed to be her mother. Roselia, Flygon, and Masquerain had been allowed in the room with their trainer, but their visit wasn't considered concluded until they left their trainer to rest.

Brock was sitting next to May on the waiting bench right outside the ER, though his arms were crossed over his chest and his face had a pensive look. May didn't feel like bothering him, whatever he was thinking about.

Across the room, from where Michael had stopped tapping his PDA some time ago, there came a four-tone alarm that seemed to be a 'You've got mail' sort of alert. Michael picked up the device from where he's tossed it into he next seat, reading something on the tiny screen. Whatever he saw seemed not at all to his taste, because when he began sending a response, his brows knitted together.

"Today sucked." May said to no one in particular. Fighting with psychopathic villains, then having her day at the beach ruined by a familiar trio of idiots was enough to grate on any girl's nerves.

"It's getting worse." Michael muttered absently, getting up from his seat to show his PDA screen to May and Brock. As if in response to her brother's sudden activity, Jovi bounced over, having ended the conversation with her mother just moments prior.

He traced the first line of the on-screen message with his forefinger. "This would be how."

May squinted at it, unable to make out the fine print without a magnifying glass.

"It's from Professor Krane." Michael said. "He says that Drew's having a severe reaction to the auras given off by the new Shadow Pokemon."

"'New Shadow Pokemon'?" Brock repeated. "I thought you said that Cipher was disbanded months ago."

Michael shrugged. "They're back in business, unfortunately. Anyway, it says here that, according to Nett from ONBS, Cipher has decided to manufacture a new breed of Shadow Pokemon. They're tougher, smarter, and I guess that if certain people get too close to them, they make them sick. We've got…eighteen total cases of Shadow Pokemon-related illnesses within the last two days, in Orre at least. And one here…" Michael waved a hand at the door that led to the ER.

"Why?" May asked. She could feel a hollow sensation in her stomach. What was going to happen to Drew?

Michael shrugged, though it was clear that he was as frustrated as she was. "Professor Krane and my mom are trying to figure that out. As far as they can tell, people like Drew have a certain…sensitivity that would normally allow a trainer to tell how a Pokemon is feeling at a glance. Drew has a way with Pokemon that most people don't, and I guess that means that he can also feel how empty Shadow Pokemon are.

"The process that turns normal Pokemon into Shadows makes them into emotionless fighting machines. If Drew has empathy for them, he may be able to feel, through their memories, exactly how they were twisted into what they are now."

"What does that mean?" May asked again, and she felt horrible when she remembered how many times she had called Drew a jerk (for various reasons) throughout the time she'd known him.

Michael scrolled down on the PDA's screen, searching for the rest of the Email. It seemed like he was going to ignore her question. "Apparently, the cure is to keep him away from all of the new Shadow Pokemon for about five or so hours until he wakes up. I'm just wondering why this didn't bug him before when we went up against the Shadow Absol and Vileplume." He idly spun the PDA around by its leather strap, apparently deep in thought.

May didn't feel like bothering him and strolled into the ER as soon as Drew's Pokemon finally came out.

* * *

Even before he was fully awake, Drew could hear a soft voice floating through the air above him. It was sweet and pure, like a note from a harp, and he found himself imagining a singing angel for some reason. Like a siren's call, he found himself powerless to resist as it beckoned him back into the waking world. He stirred and his eyes opened.

"You're awake," said an unfocused, multicolored blur. Drew blinked. The blur turned out to be Michael, who was sitting next to him, staring. Seeing that the Coordinator was not going to drift off again, Michael propped his head up with his hands with his weight on his elbows, which sunk into Drew's bed. "I'm guessing that you weren't expecting to see me."

Drew snorted. _That_ was an understatement. Michael's voice, while immature like Ash's, had a significantly lower tone than the one he had heard. That, however, was not the most pressing matter. How in the world had he ended up in a hospital bed? Michael read his gaze as it flicked around the room in surprise.

"Do you remember anything from before you blacked out?" the redhead inquired. He was idly drumming out a four-beat pattern on the bedspread with his fingertips, seemingly bored out of his mind.

"Just seeing that Golem. Then I'm here, listening to you." Drew snapped. He was in a foul mood, but he didn't really know why.

Michael raised an eyebrow at him. The Snagger was not intimidated by the outburst at all. The other boy said flatly, "You're lying."

"I am _not_." Drew was perfectly aware of how childish he sounded, but he couldn't help himself for some reason.

"Well, I suppose that _technically_, no. You can't be considered a liar if you don't even know the truth." Now he was just being infuriating. Michael continued pointedly, "You're not even feeling your own emotions, Drew. You _can't_."

Drew froze, his heart pounding deafeningly. _What_?

"Drew, the feelings you're experiencing now – anger, hate, fear – they're all a product of the bond you have with Pokemon." Seeing that the statement was not very clear, he added, "Including Shadow Pokemon. If they suffer, you can feel it, even if it's just a memory. _Their_ thoughts and feelings are overwhelming yours."

Drew absently realized that he felt just as cold and numb as he had before he'd hit the ground. Glancing out the window, he was shocked as he realized that the sun was setting.

"May was in here a minute or so ago. She was singing, I think." Michael rattled on, apparently oblivious to Drew's predicament. With an evil glint in his eye, he added in a low tone, "You should have seen your face. Even when you were asleep-!"

Michael was cut off when Drew hit him over the head with the scratchy hospital pillow.

Instead of being angry, like Drew had expected, Michael laughed as he flicked the pillow to the other side of the tiny room. "So, got your own feelings back? Good."

Drew felt annoyance flood him as he realized that the entire conversation had been a ruse to get him back under control. "You did that on purpose."

Michael nodded, still smiling. "Of course. But what I said before _was_ true."

"Which part?" the Coordinator asked, sitting up completely. "The empathy or the part about May singing?"

"Both, but the bit about your reaction wasn't." Michael shrugged as Drew turned faintly red. "She was really worried about you." Drew noticed that Michael had become properly serious again. It was just strange to think of him with Ash or May's personality.

"I know." Drew muttered. He was still trying to sort out his feelings on the matter.

May had always been his rival, though he had looked after her in his own way. He had prodded her and her Pokemon until they could stand against the opponents that he couldn't, like Grace and her Medicham. However, Drew doubted that she ever realized that he was always showing her the way to her next milestone. She never would, either, if he had anything to say about it.

As recently as two days ago, Drew had been trying to screw up the courage to tell her how he felt, but he seemed to be thwarted by nearly everything, but mostly Shadow Pokemon. He didn't even know if she felt the same way.

"So, since Nurse Joy has no idea what to do with a human patient, I get to be the doctor." Michael said mildly. "If you can walk, you're cured." He was so deadpan that Drew wondered if he was actually being serious or not.

Smiling a little, Michael tugged gently on Drew's shirt sleeve – which, he abruptly realized, was not his. At about the same time, he noticed that Michael was wearing his yellow vest open with no shirt underneath. "Come on. You need to get out of my shirt, anyway." Drew had no idea whether he was supposed to be embarrassed or not.

"Sure," he said in spite of his confusion, and he allowed Michael to ease him into his normal black shirt and purple jacket. He was sore all over, for some reason.

"You know," Michael said after a bit of awkward silence, "I noticed that you seem to be…fond of a certain girl we both know."

Drew froze. Then he said coolly, "Who, Jovi?"

Michael snorted. "Excuse the expression, but you're lying through your teeth. You know exactly who I'm talking about." Indeed he did.

"Yeah, but…" Drew started, but then realized that he had no idea where to begin.

"Let me guess, you've liked her since you met her, but you haven't got a clue how to tell May how you feel, right?" _Bull's eye_, Drew thought as the redhead finished.

"How is it that you and your sister seem to know exactly what to say?" Drew wanted to know. "And not in a good way."

Michael actually stopped. Then, after a painful sort of pause, he sighed and asked, "Do you remember how I told you about my Snagging adventure?" At Drew's nod, he continued, "Well, I had to be very good a reading people so I wouldn't get myself killed. Jovi's specialty is telling how all sorts of people feel. That's how I knew that you liked May in the first place." Drew hissed and Michael shrugged. "After that, most of it was pieced together from what May's told me about her contests so far." He stopped and appeared to think that over. "Don't tell her I paid attention, okay?"

Drew nodded curtly. Michael went on, "It wasn't hard to figure out how everything went." He sighed. "I've been a loner for as long as I can remember. When you don't spend much time talking directly to people, you tend to watch them, wondering why you can never fit in. I learned how kids our age act when they have a crush, Drew. You weren't that different."

Drew listened to all of this, and then grunted. It wasn't every day that someone could just walk up and read him like a book.

"This all has something to do with your…sensitivity to the aura cast by Shadow Pokemon. If you feel a strong emotion, I think the empathy factor may work both ways." Michael muttered. He didn't seem too sure of himself. "It's like how a pessimist can drag down everyone nearby. In your case…well, we might be able to Purify the Shadow Pokemon without having to steal them first."

Drew snorted. While he was certainly not as grim as Michael could be, he had his share of dark thoughts. If what Michael had said about the process of Purifying was true, he was useless.

"No." Drew snapped. "There is no way I'm going to get involved in this private _war_." There was no way he _could_.

Michael seemed, however, as though he had planned on that. "Unfortunately, Drew, everyone here, even Max and Jovi, already is. You too."

Drew hissed. "You can't be serious!"

"I am." Michael said coldly. He hopped off of his chair and stormed out of the room.

Drew was left with the impression that there was more to the situation than met the eye. And Michael was a part of it.

* * *

Jovi knew her friends well.

May was like a flower. She wilted under scorn, but always seemed to bloom better next time. Her presence was encouraging, almost motherly. However, she had a few barbed thorns under her petals, too.

Max was a little like a book. Books were filled with a lot of stuff, but they tended to be rather useless if you didn't want to read them. Max was also shy and could be a little bossy.

Ash was like water. The element of change, Ash seemed to have done many things to help people and Pokemon. He liked people, but he could sometimes lose his temper in the same way that a flood would suddenly come after too much rain.

Brock was like a mountain. Solid, firm and anchored, he stuck to his beliefs and what he knew. He was the most dependable person Jovi had ever met, in the same way that a column could support the weight of an entire building.

Drew was…well, he reminded her of a puzzle. Drew was callous and rude to Ash, though he didn't act the same way around the rest of them. Jovi knew he liked May, but all he ever did was tease her. He treated Max and Brock neutrally, as if he couldn't care less that they were there. Admittedly, Drew didn't seem to think that highly of Jovi, either, but at least she was partially respected because of her Larvitar.

And her brother…her brother reminded her of the old documentaries their mother used to show them. The men in those pictures had been through many troubles, and some of it was reflected in their eyes. Michael's heart was all twisted up and confused while his head was trying to make sense of everything. Michael did what he did out of necessity, and it still tore at him inside.

As she watched her brother storm out of Drew's room and out of the Pokemon Center, she saw utter shock reigning on his face and, instead of following May into the recovery area, she ran after him.

Her brother needed her.

By the time Jovi caught up to Michael, he was halfway down the next block. Rather than try to catch up on foot (since she knew he ran faster than she did), she pulled out Larvitar's Pokeball and called her out.

Larvitar regarded her new master with some curiosity. What had the girl called her out for?

"Larvitar, I'd like you to use Rock Throw." Jovi handed her a fist-sized rock. "Please hit the ground in front of Michael – don't hit him directly."

Larvitar grabbed the rock, then, with all the accuracy of a professional baseball player, hurled it at her former master. Jovi was stunned at the sheer talent in that throw – none of Michael's other Pokemon had ever been able to perform such a specific task so well.

Predictably, the concrete sidewalk in front of Michael exploded in a shower of debris. As he stumbled back, surprised, Jovi dashed up behind him and grabbed his wrist. Her brother stiffened, but allowed himself to be pulled away from the mess. Jovi recalled Larvitar with an earnest smile, and then proceeded to drag her brother off to the park across the street.

She pulled him over to the swing set, pushed him onto one of the swings, and then sat down in the one next to him.

"Jovi wants to talk, big brother." Jovi said calmly as the two of them sat there.

"And Michael doesn't," her brother responded.

Jovi's normally-cheerful blue eyes narrowed. Something was eating him, and she planned to find out what so she could find the appropriate type of pest-killer.

"Big brother doesn't get a choice now." Jovi said, lowering her voice dangerously. If there was thing about her family, it was that the women had very foul tempers when the situation was drastic. Jovi called this drastic.

Michael sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His headband was still at the Pokemon Center. "I don't know, Jovi. There's something wrong with me. I can't even hold a civil conversation without exploding…"

Jovi looked at her brother and felt her heart break. He told her everything, and she had never felt sorrier for anyone in her entire life. As tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, she thought sadly, _Why can't the world give him a break?_

Worst of all, there was nothing she could do.

* * *

"You lost the specially modified Pokemon to a _child_. Do you really expect me to forgive your idiocy for the umpteenth time?" Giovanni roared. Jessie, James and Meowth cringed.

The Boss had not been happy that the special Pokemon had been taken – _stolen!_ – from them. His shadowed countenance brimmed with fury, and his desk shook with the weight of it. If it weren't for the third party listening in, James rather thought that they'd have been ugly black smudges on the floor by now.

Behind the Boss's desk was a massive video screen where the window used to be. Out of it stared two men, both utterly terrifying in their palpable evil. One had silver hair that writhed like live serpents and eyes like those of a possessed man. The other had blue hair that fell into a cascade of spikes, and reflective sunglasses covered his eyes. The shorter one, Blue-Hair, was sitting in a high-backed chair with his fingers like a church steeple in front of his nose.

"And _you_," Giovanni snarled, whirling around in his computer chair to face the two men on the screen. "You said that these creatures could grant even the most incompetent of my minions victory. Since you most obviously have failed in that regard, I may be forced to…reconsider my support of your organization." Giovanni's voice had taken on a deadly tone, and the three Rockets hoped he wouldn't take it out on them.

Blue-Hair laughed. It was a horrible sound, like the sound of an incoming train when one stood on the tracks. "That was not our agreement. If you had read the contract properly, you would have known that, in the event of certain unforeseen obstacles, the Pokemon would perform poorly."

"And what would these unforeseen obstacles be?" Giovanni ground out. He was still livid.

The creepier man, Spider-Hair, spoke. His voice ground on James's nerves like nails on a chalkboard, but it reminded him of dry leaves rustling. Spider-Hair had proved himself to be thoroughly evil just by saying two words, "Enemy Snaggers." It came out as a rasp.

"Snaggers?" Giovanni repeated. He had no idea what those were.

"Originally," Spider-Hair began, "Snaggers and their weapons, the Snag Machines, were in the employ of a minor organization of Pokemon thieves. The devices enabled them to capture any Pokemon, including those that were already owned by trainers, simply by charging the chose Pokeball in the machine. However…five years ago, Team Snagem made a mistake in the training of their top Snagger. He rebelled, blowing their base apart and stealing the remaining Snag Machine." Here, Spider-Hair's wide mouth curved into a dangerous smirk. "Hardly a month later, he destroyed organization that had pioneered the use of Shadow Pokemon. That was the first incarnation of Cipher."

Blue-Hair seemed to take over the story at this point. "Six months ago, the second incarnation of Cipher, having noted the uselessness of Team Snagem, created the first Shadow Pokemon that could not be Purified by normal means. However, once again, we overlooked another fatal flaw in our plan. By eliminating a potential threat during Cipher's last reign, we had created a powerful enemy who proved to be our undoing. If Shadow Golem and Shadow Crobat failed, then it is due to this enemy of ours, who is now, consequently, and enemy of yours."

The screen flickered, and what appeared to be a news broadcast flashed onto it.

_A red-haired boy strode onto the field, holding two Pokeballs aloft. His face was partially blocked by his long hair. The man across from him, tall and imposing in a frivolous sort of way, likewise held his choices. A girl held a microphone up to her mouth, and she stood properly in front of the camera before speaking. _

"_This is Marcia from ONBS. As we uncovered the conspiracy to place all of Phenac City under cipher's control, this man, Cipher Administrator Snattle, came to capture us. And out of the blue, a hero has arrived!" she said, then stepped out of the camera's view._

_The cameraman zoomed in on the boy, who had watched the Cipher Admin call out his two Pokemon with a look of irritation. As the man's Lanturn and Castform took the stage, the boy tossed his own Pokeballs, revealing a Flaaffy and Spheal. _

"_Iceberg, use Rollout, then Aurora Beam!" the boy shouted. Then he ordered, "Amps, Body Slam!"_

_At the same time, the man commanded, "Lanturn, Spark on Spheal! Castform, use Sunny Day!"_

_Iceberg the Spheal, rather than waddling up to the woefully faster opponent, curled into a ball and rolled rapidly towards Castform, so quickly that Lanturn's Spark missed. Then Iceberg uncurled himself and shot into the air. It took a scant second for the round little Pokemon to freeze the opposing Castform in a convenient ball of ice. _

_Likewise, the charging Flaaffy was not to be denied. The pink sheep charged, smacking directly into Lanturn's globes. Then it spun –_

"_Amps, Slam attack!" the boy called. Amps smashed her tail downward with stunning force, causing the Lanturn to bounce several times before coming to a stop._

_Snattle called both of his Pokemon back with a snarl and then sent out a Quagsire and a Metang. The redhead also called back his two Pokemon, sending out a Houndour and Shroomish. The two had a stare-down before going on the offensive._

"_Let's go, Corona! Ember attack!" the boy shouted, then turned to his second Pokemon and called, "Cappy, Stun Spore!" Little flecks of flame shot from the Houndour's mouth and blasted the Metang. At the same time, the Shroomish began storing up its powder._

_Simultaneously, Snattle ordered his Metang, "Use Metal Claw on Shroomish. Quagsire, try a Mud Shot on that Houndour!" _

_The boy blinked for a moment, then: "Corona, use Smokescreen!" Black smoke flooded the field from the Houndour's mouth, causing the Quagsire to stop and cough. At the same time, the Shroomish had finally released its yellow spores, and the mud fish found itself partially paralyzed. Metang had missed the walking mushroom by a mile._

_All at once, the smoke in the arena dissipated, leaving a slightly confused Metang and stunned Quagsire. Then Houndour tore out of the remaining cover, shooting miniature fireballs directly up towards Metang's underbelly. At the same time, Shroomish began to leech energy from the paralyzed Quagsire with its Mega Drain attack._

_Snattle's Pokemon struck the ground at the same time, out cold. He was once again forced to recall them, but a smirk was forming on his blue lips. The boy's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he recalled his Pokemon as well._

"_I choose you, Lunatone!" Snattle called, tossing the Pokeball. Out came the Rock-type, hovering motionlessly in midair with its psychic powers. Its eerie red eyes locked with the camera._

_There was a beeping sound – a tiny computer screen materialized out of a machine above the redhead's left ear and he smirked. He held out two final Pokeballs. _

"_Moondance, Telemon, let's go!" An Umbreon and a Kirlia appeared in the arena, and the number red eyes in the ring moved up to six. _

"_Moondance, use Pursuit! Telemon, Thunderbolt!"_

"_Lunatone, Shadow Sky!" Both the Umbreon and Kirlia stopped in mid-strike as little bursts of dark purple energy rained down from nowhere. As the shadowy hailstones pelted them, they cried out in pain._

"_Telemon, try again," the boy encouraged softly, watching as his Kirlia stiffened, then stood up straight and loosed a bolt of yellow lightning at the Lunatone. The redhead whispered something to his Umbreon, who promptly shot up and delivered a vicious bite to the end of the Lunatone's top spike. At the Rock-type shook in pain, the Kirlia danced over and delivered a second jolt after Moondance released her grip. _

_Then the boy, who had a suspicious-looking device on his arm, snatched up an empty Pokeball. He seemed to charge the capsule in the device, then tossed it at the weakened Lunatone. It vanished in a flash of white light. The Pokeball rolled three times, then stopped. The redhead went over to it, picked it up, and watched as the Pokeball was whisked away into a PC system in an instant._

"Who," Giovanni began coldly, "is this boy?"

Blue-Hair's voice rang out, "I knew I would get your attention with that. This boy has defeated every single member of Cipher's second incarnation at least once. His name is Michael of Orre, and his is our greatest threat." Blue-Hair said as he and Spider-Hair reappeared in a smaller box in the corner of the screen, smirking.

Always one to look at every angle, Giovanni said, "And what of the first Snagger? There is no way to guarantee that he will not rouse himself to defeat you again."

Spider-Hair laughed cruelly. "He is not of consequence. He ran afoul of some of our more…savage members recently. The former Team Snagem member, Wes, is dead, as is his foolish partner and their Pokemon." Giovanni raised an eyebrow and Spider-Hair went on, "No one would be able to survive a dynamite-caused rockslide with such weak Pokemon, Giovanni. You know this as well as you know your own name."

Giovanni's face split into the darkest, most horrible smile James had ever seen. The Boss made Jessibelle seem like an angel.

"So, what shall be done about this threat?" Spider-Hair asked. It seemed to be rhetorical.

"Simple. We eliminate it." Giovanni replied callously. James felt his insides turn to ice. He looked back up at the screen. He hadn't realized it at first, but as the camera zoomed in on the boy's face, he realized with a lurch that he knew this boy.

It was the redheaded twerp.

And the Boss was planning on killing him.

* * *

Some distance away, the keys of a laptop clicked. The fingers that tapped the keyboard were gloved in black, and the smirk of their owner was almost audible. There was a popping noise – his partner had blown a particularly loud bubble with her mouthful of gum. She smiled as she heard the audio feedback and watched the three criminal masterminds through their own security cameras, which had been hacked for this very occasion.

"You know, it's kind of funny that they're after someone who's only dismantled them once," she said softly, her voice very kind despite the illegal activity she was participating in.

"So I've been told," he replied, typing out a few more commands as he fervently wished for a good set of explosives. It would be so much simpler to just blow the place into next week but _no_, his girlfriend had wanted no extra violence and to defeat the evil CEOs the proper way.

Like there was one.

The woman sighed. "It's so strange to be on the other end of this." She blew another bubble, this time managing one as large as her head.

"It's safer," the man insisted. "This way, we can get to that kid and still keep ourselves from being attacked again."

"I know…" she said, trailing off sadly. "I just wish there was some sort of resolution to this. That kid, Michael…it seems like someone close to him was killed by Cipher the first time around." She looked sad, and the man would have done anything for her original spunkiness and cheer to come back, but he doubted it would. There was no way to be both happy and safe when one lived on the run.

"Where is this kid, anyway?" the man muttered to himself, pushing a button on the side of his laptop's monitor for more sound.

"–_location?" _That was the crime lord with the best financial backing, by the sound of it. Giovanni.

"_Have your agents tell you,"_ said the softest voice. Nascour.

"_Well?!"_

"_S-Slateport City, Boss."_ It sounded like a Pokemon, not a human, but everyone knew that Pokemon couldn't speak.

And on the distant hill, a golden-eyed, sandy-haired young man faced his blue-eyed, redhead partner and grinned for the first time in several weeks.

"Bingo, Rui," said Wes.

* * *

A/N: Argh…no one wants to review, it seems. It would be nice if you'd drop me a line after _this_ one. This gets the plot moving, after all.

Give me critiques, flames, compliments, I don't care which. It'd be nice just to know that someone's still reading this.


	6. Shadow Spring

Chapter Six: Shadow Spring

A/N: Yes, there are going to be anime and movie characters here. I'm trying to limit the number of OCs to zero.

I just noticed that I never put a disclaimer on here.

And I don't need one.

Honestly, this is FAN FICTION dot NET. Nobody owns anything besides plot ideas here.

* * *

Night fell with surprising ease and did not crash upon landing. The stars winked down from their positions in the darkened sky, and none but they noticed the fantastically loud motorbike roll into Slateport City. It was impractically massive – more than half of it seemed to be just the engine and exhaust pipes. The remaining bit consisted of a single wheel, a double-sized seat like one found on a racing motorcycle, and a sidecar.

On the seat were two people – a sandy-haired young man wearing deep blue and black, and a redheaded young woman dressed in light blue and white. In the sidecar were three Pokemon – a lilac-colored catlike Pokemon, a jet-black doglike creature with red eyes and glowing yellow rings along its limbs, and a tiny mouse-looking Electric-type with red-tinged ears and addition signs on its cheeks.

"Is there a reason why we had to come into the city at night?" the girl asked drowsily. She had been nearly asleep after twenty minutes, with her head against the boy's shoulder. They had been riding for four hours.

The golden-eyed young man sighed, running a hand through his hair before pulling off his reflective shades. "You mean besides the fact that agents for evil organizations tend to move very quickly? No." He eased his girlfriend off of the seat as his Umbreon, Jericho, leapt out of the sidecar with his Espeon twin brother, Cyrus, in tow. The Plusle, named Ginger, followed with significantly less grace.

Wes gently directed Rui towards the chosen inn's lobby, sighing as he did so. It wasn't her fault that she wasn't used to keeping odd hours. Wes had specialized in nighttime burglaries and muggings before, for lack of a better term, straightening himself out.

As soon as he'd managed to get everything arranged with the kindly patron at the counter, who had responded by guiding Rui to a bed, Wes stepped back outside. The brisk sea breeze dropped the thermostat a few degrees as he did so.

Wes's Pokemon and Rui's Plusle had not followed the two humans inside. They were waiting for orders.

"Alright then," Wes began. The three of the Pokemon immediately sat at attention. After all, Wes was technically their master, even if they did like Rui. The only Pokemon who might have disputed that claim was Ginger, but even she wasn't particularly interested in defying Wes tonight. "Ginger, keep an eye on Rui, will you?"

Ginger nodded and gave an affirmative chirp before dashing inside.

"Cyrus, try and see if that kid's anywhere around here." Wes said. At the doubtful look Cyrus gave him, Wes added, "We know he's in the city. It'd be nice to have a smaller search area to work with, though. Start searching as soon as possible, but keep a mental link up until I finish giving your brother instructions." Cyrus's ears flicked. Then he teleported away, presumably to a better vantage point. At the same time, Wes felt the distinctive nudge of Cyrus's awareness on his own.

Finally, Wes knelt down to meet Jericho eye-to-eye. "This could be the most dangerous job we've ever pulled. I need you to work together with Cyrus after he pinpoints Michael's position, so we can keep Cipher from getting him. Come and get me and Rui when it happens. Until then, I need you to monitor this area on foot. If anything suspicious shows up, double-team them with Cyrus's help. Got it?"

Jericho nodded sharply, his long ears waving at the motion. He took off at a dead run, turning the corner of the building in a swirl of dust. Wes sighed at the Dark-type's antics – Jericho always had been very stubborn about not requiring help. He'd probably wear himself out by dawn.

Wes walked back inside and went up to the room he shared with Rui – he had memorized the inn owner's social security number by this point. Finding a particular hotel room wouldn't be an issue for him.

* * *

Several hundred miles away, evil was afoot.

James had no idea why he was being called to the boss's office. While Jessie and Meowth were jealous and assured him that he'd be getting a promotion, James had about as much faith in that as he had in the tooth fairy. Whatever Giovanni had demanded his presence for, it was not going to be good.

The elevator ride up to his office seemed to take only seconds. By this point, James was so nervous he could hardly think. It didn't help that Cassidy and B…the guy with the forgettable name were there with him, taking turns snarling at each other and at him. Despite that, James saw that both of them were nearly as jittery as he felt. That did not bolster his resolve in the least.

Stepping out of the elevator had been like a silent duel. None of them had wanted to go first. James ended up losing the first round of Rock-Paper-Scissors, so he entered Giovanni's office before the Butch, who had apparently been made the runner-up. Cassidy came last.

"Good, you're all here." Giovanni said in his customary way – as if he was looking down at them from a three hundred-story building. And down his crooked nose.

"It has been brought to my attention that our organization is in a precarious position, provided that certain outside threats are not eliminated." James had to admire his style – Giovanni was making it seem as though anyone who took the job of killing an innocent child was actually a hero. However, James had been present at the meeting a few hours before, even if Giovanni had dismissed his presence. There was no way he could pull a hit job and still live with himself afterwards. "Your task will be to choose an assassin from our lineup."

James froze. _No._ Beside him, he could almost _hear_ both Cassidy and Butch blink. They were stunned.

"Turn around," the boss ordered. They did so without hesitation. To hesitate meant either dismissal or removal. Removal was worse by so many levels it was laughable. Dismissal was getting fired. Removal was being erased from the grand scheme of the world, permanently.

Directly facing them was a glass panel. Whatever was behind the glass was shrouded in darkness. Someone needed to turn on the light in there.

"Our first candidate: former General Hanzo of the Mirage Kingdom in Hoenn." A spotlight came on, and there the General stood in all of his intimidating glory.

James's insides contorted. "_That_ guy…" he said softly. No one seemed to hear him. It would take a very long time before James would forget the mustached man who had nearly destroyed the Mirage Kingdom for the sake of the girl twerp's Togepi. And James felt even guiltier for having been the man's ally at the time.

"Contestant number two: The Iron-Masked Marauder."

The first emotion that registered was an intense dislike. Then came hate. This…monster had killed a Celebi for no purpose other than to give himself power. The forest Pokemon had dealt a severe blow to him, it seemed – there was permanent crick in his shoulder where James was certain an Ursaring had struck him down. The fact that this man would have happily killed everything else in the area with no thought to the pain he caused…James would never doubt the man's ability to kill. What he doubted was that the man could cope if his preferred weapon, a Shadow Tyranitar, was taken out. James stored the information away to be used later.

"Number three: Agent 009 Domino." A pool of light materialized around the blonde girl, who held a black tulip innocently in her hand.

James hated her, too. It was true that he, Jessie, and Meowth had gotten back at her for treating them like dirt, but he doubted that the bucket and a long, wet hall had given the girl the lesson she needed about respecting other people and life in general. James wasn't sure that anything would.

"The final contestant: Lawrence III."

Did the boss really hate him or something?

James had good reason to both fear and hate the man. Lawrence III had once tried to capture Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. His real goal had been to capture Lugia, however. James could clearly remember the battle where the twerp had been declared the Chosen One to fight on the side of Lugia to save the world. He also recalled how he, Jessie, and Meowth had played a crucial role in helping them save the world. The world had only needed saving because Lawrence III had decided to be an egoistical monster.

James kept his mouth shut as Cassidy and Butch discussed their choices between themselves. He didn't really trust himself to speak.

After several more minutes' deliberation, Cassidy pointed wordlessly at the Iron-Masked Marauder.

Butch chose Hanzo.

James stalled as long as he could, before clenching his teeth and pointing at Domino.

James really hoped that Domino was picked. She was more than incompetent enough to be blasted into the stratosphere if the redhead twerp really got mad.

Hanzo…not so much. His Shedinja probably wouldn't last a second against the redhead twerp's Umbreon. And while his Ninjask were fast, they were similarly weak.

The Iron Masked Marauder was an entirely different story. James didn't doubt the boy's talent, but a hardened criminal like the Team Rocket elite was in a whole other league.

Thank goodness nobody voted for Lawrence III, James thought. The repercussions from _that_ could be on a global scale.

"…Hm…" Giovanni murmured. James hoped that he wouldn't cast the final vote to Lawrence III. "Since our interests seem mutually divided, I commission all four of these agents to eliminate our threat."

James felt the bottom of his stomach plummet to his toes. Giovanni laughed cruelly and sent all three of them from the room. While Cassidy and Butch seemed relived that the decision had been taken out of their hands, James was horrified.

He _had_ to get Jessie and Meowth out of here and warn the twerps before it was too late.

And for that, he needed the Meowth balloon.

* * *

Back in Slateport City, Jericho padded southward, towards the local Pokemon Center. Trainers always seemed to congregate around such places. The free food and endless hospitality seemed to be a factor.

As a Dark-type, Jericho had perfect night vision. It was better than his brother's, which was nothing to scoff at. As easily as one would spot a white Wailord on a black background, Jericho noticed two people standing outside the Pokemon Center. One was a boy with black hair like a Jolteon's fur, and the other was a girl dressed in red and white, like a Pokeball.

He crept closer, carefully keeping to the shadows. There was no telling how Trainers would react to a rare find such as him. Jericho's years as Wes's Pokemon in Team Snagem had impressed that caution firmly into his mind. With some effort, he also forced his rings to stop glowing. It was an uncomfortable technique, and Jericho reserved the use of it for special missions where stealth was paramount.

"Jovi and Michael have been gone for a long time," the boy remarked to the girl. Unlike most wild Pokemon and some tamed ones, Jericho had perfect understanding of both the human language and Pokemon language. Wes's other Pokemon were the same. And he caught the name "Michael". His master's objective.

"Yeah. I wonder what they're talking about?" the girl said. Jericho glanced from the door of the Pokemon Center to the two human children. The distance wasn't enough for him to sneak by undetected, so he'd have to wait.

The boy shrugged. "Maybe about their dad?" He instantly seemed to regret the statement as the girl shushed him. Loudly. Jericho's ears pricked with interest.

"Ash, that's rude!" the girl snapped. "We shouldn't bring that up." She added in a quiet voice, "If your dad was murdered and no one ever caught the guy who did it, wouldn't it be upsetting to find out that people were talking about it behind your back?"

Ash nodded. He seemed ashamed of himself. Despite that, he whispered to her, "But still, what could be keeping them? Michael didn't even take Moondance with him when he left. If they run into Cipher members, he's done for!"

The girl shook her head and Jericho was seized by the urge to jump at her pigtails as they swung around her head, like he had at Wes's sleeves when he had been an Eevee. He resisted with extreme difficulty. "Ash, Jovi has _four_ Pokemon, and she took all of them with her. If her Plusle and Minun combination don't take out the goons, her Larvitar and Mightyena will." She didn't seem so sure, though.

Jericho's sensitive ears caught the sound of a Pokemon stepping on the sensor for the Pokemon Center's automatic doors even before the doors opened. Out stepped a female Umbreon.

Watching her, Jericho knew that this Umbreon had to belong to the Michael boy. There was a certain aura given off by Pokemon that had fought Shadow Pokemon or had actually been Shadow Pokemon. And this female had it in droves.

Jericho abruptly realized that, even if the Trainers wouldn't be able to detect him if he was sitting against their legs, the female Umbreon would see him as easily as he could see her. Carefully, he released the glow of his rings and stepped into the florescent light cast by the Pokemon Center's main office.

The boy noticed him first, after the female Umbreon. "Hi. Are you lost?"

Jericho shook his head sharply as he sat down a safe distance from both the trainers and the other Umbreon. Even if he was, he could depend on Cyrus to point him back to Wes.

The female stared at him. "_Who are you looking for?_" she asked. Jericho knew that the two humans wouldn't be able to understand him anyway, so he simply answered her.

"_A human named Michael. Is he your Trainer?_" Jericho asked.

The female nodded, "_Yes. What is your name and what do you intend to do once you find my Trainer?_"

Once again, Jericho decided to be truthful. It never hurt unless the truth was very, very dangerous. "_I plan to tell my brother where he is._" Okay, not _all_ truthful. "_My name is Jericho. What is yours?"_

"_Moondance. Who is this brother of yours?_" Moondance asked.

The humans were getting rather confused by this point. To them, it must have sounded like a mix of the syllables of the word, 'Umbreon'. Mentally, Jericho laughed. Humans would never be able to understand the language of Pokemon. Only those who had a strong bond with their partners would even begin to grasp the intricacies of their speech.

"_My brother is an Espeon_," said Jericho. "_Michael, your human, is in grave danger. Cyrus, my brother, and I plan to help_."

Moondance's pretty face scrunched up in surprise. "_What is this threat?_" she asked sharply, her voice going very hard. If the boy, at the very least, had not noticed the change in her tone, Jericho was sure he was dense.

Jericho flicked an ear. "_Have you ever heard of Cipher?_"

Moondance laughed harshly, and the girl jumped in surprise at the noise coming from such a sweet Pokemon. "_As if I could not! I was born and raised as an Orre Eevee. Even the wild Pokemon there have tales from the nest of the cruelty of Cipher. So, Cipher has decided to come after Michael once again, have they? This time, retribution will be swift and unrelenting._"

Jericho's ear twitched in the middle of her speech. "_So, your Trainer has had conflict with Cipher as well. It is fitting, then, that Cipher's newest form will be combated by the first and second heroes of Orre._" Jericho stood, turning to head back to give Cyrus the news. "_My master's name is Wes. If you have a Psychic-type traveling with you, try to tell everything to your Trainer. He will need the forewarning._"

As Jericho leapt over a concrete barrier, he heard Moondance respond softly, "_I don't think you, or anyone else, fully understands the problems we must now deal with._"

Several minutes later, Jericho had made it about halfway back to the inn where Wes and Rui were staying before Cyrus contacted him. He was lucky he had been walking – the shock from mental contact would have sent him sprawling if he had been running.

(_Brother?_) Jericho sighed as he heard that. Cyrus was every bit as insecure as he had been as an Eevee after their mother had died. While Jericho had shouldered responsibility for feeding the both of them, Cyrus had become very withdrawn. Admittedly, it was Jericho's frustration with Cyrus's shyness that had led to their capture by Wes when he was still small and uncorrupted.

(_What is it, Cyrus?_) Jericho responded. His psychic abilities were meager at best compared to his brother's, but that was the cost of being a Dark-type. Jericho didn't really mind. At least he could take a hit.

(_I found the human, but he is fighting Cipher peons right now. I will help him, but I need you to wake Wes and Rui._) Cyrus said. Jericho stopped dead.

(_You are going to challenge them on your own?_) Jericho asked.

Cyrus gave a mental nod.

Sighing, Jericho relented, (_Fine, but you should wake them telepathically. I have something to do._) Cyrus gave another mental nod and cut off their connection.

Jericho quickly turned and leapt over a concrete barrier he had just cleared a moment before. Moondance would need to know about this. It was her Trainer, after all.

No matter how sure Cyrus was that he could handle random Cipher peons, it was better to be safe than sorry.

* * *

Michael had no idea how long he sat there with Jovi. After sunset, the two of them had sat in near-silence on that wooden bench. Only the sound of Jovi fidgeting broke the unnerving quiet.

"Big brother?" Jovi asked finally. Michael glanced at her, green meeting blue for the first time in an hour or so.

"Hm?"

Jovi sighed. "Jovi is…sorry."

"For what?" Michael asked, confused.

"Jovi didn't notice before. And Jovi couldn't help. Jovi is sorry."

Michael sighed. His sister was growing up a little too fast. There was no sense in trying to take on the world before even getting her trainer's license. "It's not your fault. If anything, it's mine. I shouldn't have tried to push him."

"Drew had good reason to be angry, big brother. But that's not your fault, either." Jovi disagreed. "You want to make sure that no one gets hurt. Maybe Drew can't see past his feelings. Maybe something has to happen before he understands." Jovi nervously twisted the end of her skirt. "Jovi hopes not, though."

"That's always how it seems to work, though." Michael murmured wistfully, looking up at the starry sky.

_Ka-chak_.

Michael heard the sound of a loaded weapon and reacted on instinct alone – he shoved Jovi to the ground as it fired. Something spun crazily through the air from its launching point, veiled in smoke. It looked like a chain with two weights on each end. Whatever it was, it ended up curling around him like an Arbok and pinned his arms to his sides.

Michael overbalanced and his head struck the pavement, making him see stars.

Jovi got up quickly, drawing Larvitar and Mightyena's Pokeballs. The Cipher peons who had fired the strange device were emerging from the bushes, and she was angry.

At that moment, something sleek and purple dropped into view, standing between the Cipher peons and Michael, who was still stunned.

Jovi recognized the Pokemon as an Espeon, the fork-tailed, delicate version of Umbreon. The Espeon faced her, and its red jewel winked in the light of the street lamps as its wide violent eyes regarded both assailant and assailed impartially.

Then the gem glowed. Jovi saw the Cipher peon who had fired at Michael lifted effortlessly into the air, outlined with soft blue energy that made him spin like a top. Whirling the man faster and faster until Jovi couldn't tell where his arms and legs were anymore, the Espeon suddenly released its hold on the man, sending him careening towards the other peon and collapsing on him, ending in a mess of tangled limbs.

The Espeon purred, observing its handiwork happily. Its large ears flicked – it had heard something, and the Pokemon glanced in the direction of a rustling noise that only it was able to pick up.

Out of the bushed jumped a pair of Umbreon; Jovi recognized one as Moondance, who dashed over to Michael and began knowing on his restraints. The second strode to meet the Espeon, licking his shoulder fur.

Then Jovi heard the Umbreon say very clearly, (_Thank you for your help, brother._)

What the heck was going on?!

* * *

Wes reacted quickly to any given situation, even when he was asleep. That included when his Espeon finally decided to tell him of the whereabouts of the redheaded kid from Giovanni's hit list. Wes had been out of bed and perfectly awake in an instant.

Rui was not.

Deciding to wait a moment before rousing his partner, Wes contacted Cyrus directly. (_Is everything alright?_)

It took Cyrus a moment to reply, like a computer's lag time after receiving an Email.

(_I have defeated the Cipher peons, but Michael is still hurt and there may be more on the way. I can transport them to the Pokemon Center. Will you meet us there?_)

Wes threw on his coat, also pulling on his gloves and the Snag Machine. He sent, (_I'll be there in a flash._)

Cyrus seemed to nod mentally. (_Thank you. Big brother and his new friend, along with Michael's sister, will be there as well._)

Wes sent an affirmative and got ready for one of the more dangerous tasks he had on his daily agenda: waking Rui without losing a finger.

* * *

Cyrus teleported everyone to the Pokemon Center post-haste. Jovi blinked and swayed, knocking herself and Ash to the ground. Michael's head was still spinning, and May jumped about a foot when she saw everyone just _appear_ out of thin air. The two Umbreon yipped happily – there were friendly faces.

Jericho glanced at his brother. (_Are Wes and Rui almost here?_)

Cyrus flicked an ear, (_You could say that_.)

(_What do you mean?_) Jericho demanded.

Cyrus flinched. (_Wes is awake, but he seems to have encountered a problem – Rui does not like to be woken up by anything but the sun, and it is still nighttime._)

(_Ah. Does that mean we will have to watch over them until Wes can come?_) Jericho asked, flicking an ear at the same time as his twin.

(_I suppose so._)

The female Umbreon strode up to them and sat next to Jericho. Cyrus didn't know her name, how she was connected to the boy, or how Jericho knew her, but he wasn't about to complain. Psychic-type Pokemon simply did _not_ mouth off to Dark-types.

"_Are you Jericho's brother?_" she asked. At Cyrus's nod, she smiled. "_My name is Moondance. Nice to meet you._"

Cyrus inclined his head to her, sitting on the linoleum inside the Pokemon Center's front office. "_Likewise_."

Cyrus stared outside contemplatively. The redhead had been taken to his room in the Pokemon Center, presumably to recover, and the rest of the humans had retreated to their respective rooms, as well. Even the little Pikachu the black-haired boy had had with him had left.

That left the three of them to sit and wait for Wes to show up, with or without Rui.

"_Where were you born?_" Moondance asked after a while.

Cyrus glanced at her, then returned to his stargazing, saying softly, "_Johto, I believe. It is possible that we were born somewhere else, but we don't remember that place if there is one_."

"_The first thing that either of us can remember is our mother._" Jericho murmured distractedly, looking at the almost-full moon."_After a while, we didn't see her anymore and realized she had been gone too long for it to be just a game. I used to take care of us by hunting and gathering berries, but I think I knew even then that we couldn't last much longer on our own._

"_Wes found us when he was still very small. He had a family of his own then, but they disappeared after a while. All three of us went to their funeral. I evolved into an Umbreon once I realized that night had fallen and no one would be there to care for him anymore if Cyrus and I didn't do something_." Jericho growled, his ears flattening against his head. "_Cyrus evolved the next morning, right before Gonzap came and took Wes._"

"_Gonzap…he's the leader of Team Snagem_." Moondance realized, and a chill crept up her spine at the memory of the man. She had no idea how these two could have known the Snagem leader, but she was glad that her Trainer had never had very much contact with him.

Jericho nodded solemnly. Cyrus replied, "_Wes can't remember what happened during those ten missing years very well. He suppressed most of those memories and only we know what happened to him so many times._"

"_Since meeting Rui, however, he has been getting better. He is almost as kind as he was when we first met him, though he is strict. She keeps him from turning back into the cold monster he was when Gonzap still owned him_." Jericho said, watching the great moon rise higher in the night sky. "_He may be a little harsh sometimes, but now that is part of how he really is. Wes doesn't mean to be hurtful to anyone anymore_."

Moondance nodded, acknowledging their story. She looked out at the moon as well, settling down beside Jericho, so close that their fur touched. "_I know what you mean. On the day that I first met Michael, his father was taking me to their home. I was still a kit back then – I couldn't understand why strange humans attacked the man carrying me, killing him. I fled._" She spat the last part. "_I ran and ran until I found their home, and collapsed on their doorstep. Michael's mother, Lily, didn't find me until the next morning, when she had already realized her mate had been killed_."

Moondance looked at the many twinkling stars, still worried for her Trainer's sake. "_Lily let Michael take me in, having already known that his father had planned to give him an Eevee. My first experience as a member of their family was a funeral, and I refused to be taken away from him when Cipher attacked again_.

"_I had left his father to die. I could not do the same to him, not after everything he had been through_." Moondance met the eyes of both brothers. "_It is true that I did not want to stay in that house where that man had once lived, but I had made my promise. I eventually came to protect and accompany Michael simply because I wanted to be with him_." Her red eyes narrowed as she dredged up a poor memory. "_I have only ever broken that promise once – I had kits coming, and I could not be taken into the final confrontation while my kits could be born at any time._" Her ears flatted against her head, and she said softly, "_I regret it. My oldest kit, Neptune, was the one Michael was forced to take along, and I have wished ever since that I had been there, not her. Neptune needs bad memories no more than any other being on this planet_."

"_I know what you mean_." Jericho said with a sigh, watching the moon move still higher. Wes wasn't at the Pokemon Center yet, and it was getting late.

"_What could be keeping him?_" Cyrus wondered out loud.

"_Most likely, Rui's sleeping habits_." Jericho replied, shaking himself. It was getting cold even though they were inside.

Cyrus looked out on the street anxiously. "_But what if something's happened to him?_"

"_You'd feel it, wouldn't you?_" Jericho asked.

"_Yes–_" Cyrus cut himself off, then closed his lavender eyes. He shuddered from the tips of his whiskers to the end of his forked tail.

"_What is it?_" Jericho asked, going numb inside.

"_Wes is in trouble. I'm going to help._" Cyrus responded forcefully, standing and taking a few steps towards the automatic glass doors with anger in every movement. Jericho bounded up next to him, nuzzling his twin's side.

As Cyrus turned to him in surprise, Jericho licked his brother's ear. "_What, you didn't honestly think I was going to let you go alone again, did you?_"

Moondance watched them both anxiously, then sighed. "_Be careful, will you? Whatever's out there must be very dangerous for a Snagger not to be able to fight it with the Pokemon he has_."

Jericho grinned at her over his shoulder. "_And when did I tell you Wes was a Snagger?_"

"_You're not half the trickster you seem to think you are. It's implied._" Moondance replied with a smile in response to his tease. "_Go now, before something eats your Trainer_."

Cyrus gave her a mock-salute with his long purple tail, smiling as well. "_Yes ma'am_."

The two brothers winked out of existence in front of her.

Moondance chuckled to herself, then turned and decided to head to Michael's room. She preferred the Pokemon Center's bed sheets over a Pokeball any day.

* * *

A/N: And now for a quick character list:

Hanzo: The guy who wanted Misty's Togepi so he could take over the Mirage Kingdom. If you haven't watched the Hoenn episodes, you won't see him. He has two Ninjask and a Shedinja.

Lawrence III: The green-haired guy who wanted to capture the legendary birds and Lugia. He almost destroyed the world in _Pokemon 2000: The Power of One_. He has access to extremely advanced technology.

Domino: A high-ranking agent of Team Rocket who made her only appearance in _Mewtwo Returns_. She has no Pokemon, and attacks with her signature Black Tulip, which shoots red electricity to stun Pokemon.

The Iron-Masked Marauder: The buff guy in _Pokemon 4Ever_/_Celebi: Voice of the Forest_. He has, for lack of a better term, Snag Balls that turn Pokemon into Shadow Pokemon. He called them Dark Balls, and he has a Sneasel, Scizor, and (Shadow) Tyranitar.

They are all villains, even if Domino's a bit of an idiot for a secret agent. Lawrence III supposedly went through a life-changing experience back in _The Power of One_, but I think that the sight of the legendary dogs will get him frothing at the mouth all over again. Remember that Wes owns every Pokemon you can get in Pokemon Colosseum, including Ho-Oh. _Michael_ was the one who gave a couple away and freed some others.


	7. The Past and the Present

Chapter Seven: The Past and the Present

A/N: Wes, when compared to the majority of protagonists in Pokemon, makes them look like rookies. The ten-or-so year gap probably has something to do with it.

* * *

It wasn't the first time Wes had faced a problem like this, and was unlikely to be the last. Cipher peons, as usual, had found him and were busily calling out their Pokemon.

Wes sometimes wondered why they bothered. Rui was awake, with him, and angry – no one interrupted her beauty sleep without getting fried, be it by her hair straightener or by Ginger's Thunder attack. Wes had been on the receiving end of the latter a couple of times before learning to rely on an alarm clock.

The first peon, a man, released a Jumpluff and a Rapidash. Rui turned her head this way and that, then shook her head. Ginger jumped from her place on the redhead's shoulder, cheeks sparking. No Shadow Pokemon meant that Ginger could attack freely, without fear of accidentally knocking out the Pokemon Wes hoped to capture.

Wes grinned savagely, pulling out two Pokeballs of his own. "Suicune, Entei, go!"

In a burst of fire and blinding, rainbow-colored light, the two legendary Pokemon appeared.

One was a huge blue wolf-like creature with white diamonds on its sleek fur. A thick, purple mane extended from its back, and twin white ribbons issued from the base of its spine to curl gracefully around its sides. Most striking of all was a large set of blue crystal spines mounted on its head like a crown. Its red eyes seemed to glow as it roared in response to its summons.

The second was even larger and covered head to paw in thick brown fur. An iron plate adorned its short face, and it wore iron bands around its large white paws. Instead of a tail, the lion-like beast had a gray length of fur extending from its back, though it looked more like smoke billowing from a volcano. This beast also roared, but its cry was far louder than the former's and carried palpable strength and pride.

The Cipher peon stumbled back in shock as his Pokemon cowered in fear. He had never expected to face the most powerful Trainer in Orre during a routine spy mission.

"I'll give you a chance to run. Care to take me up on it?" Wes asked, the devious grin still on his face. He had a few good ideas of what to do with this lackey if he didn't comply.

The man gave a timid little squeak, recalled his intimidated Pokemon, and headed for the hills, so to speak. Wes relaxed – Rui would have killed him if he had carried through with the threat.

"And the rest of you?" Wes asked coolly, not even moving to look at the rest. From the burnt smell radiating from the area, he could assume that Ginger and Rui had been dealing with them.

There was the sound of scrambling feet – no one wanted to be caught in their attacks. By assuming Wes had been preoccupied with the first man, they had left themselves open to Rui and Ginger's furious assaults. Snickering, Wes recalled Suicune and Entei with all due compliments on their performance.

Wes was just beginning to congratulate Rui and Ginger on their swift action when he heard something from farther down the street. He turned, and was relieved to see Cyrus and Jericho heading back towards him. They seemed equally happy to see him and barked in greeting.

"Find him?" Wes asked Cyrus, feeling a little anxious all of a sudden.

(_Of course_.) Jericho replied smugly.

Cyrus swatted his brother across the shoulders with his forked tail. (_I was the one who found him_.)

Jericho flicked an ear. (_Yeah, yeah_.)

Wes smirked, then scratched both of them behind the ears. "How is he?"

Cyrus's ears flattened. (_He's a little hurt. I wasn't fast enough_.)

"Is he alive, though?" Wes clarified.

(_Yes_.)

"Then a few bumps and bruises won't matter." Wes said, smirking. "Kids get worse injuries by falling off their bikes."

Rui, with Ginger back on her shoulder, picked Cyrus up gently and looking him over. "Wes, are you talking to your Pokemon again?"

"Just because they haven't bothered to try to talk to you doesn't mean that they can't." Wes shot back playfully. It was a bit of a running joke between the two of them. Rui knew they could communicate silently with him – she could do the same with Shadow Pokemon when she tried to sense their feelings. However, the minds of non-Shadows were closed to her. She couldn't start a conversation with Cyrus or Jericho, but she had once spoken freely to a Meditite.

She didn't bother to question that, and neither did Wes.

"Let's go, then." Wes said, straightening. "We can't afford to let the situation get as out of hand as it did in Orre."

"You mean the incident that that Michael kid had to take care of?" Rui asked. Ginger had begun cleaning her ears rather like a Meowth, and not for the first time, Wes wondered exactly where Duking had gotten such a strange Plusle.

"Among other things," Wes said, debating over whether or not to recall one or both of the twins. Cyrus and Jericho…did he really need either of them right now? Were they tired?

As if he read his mind – which, incidentally, he probably had – Jericho said, (_Wes, we're fine. Another hour isn't going to kill us. After all, we spent all day just sitting in the sidecar of your bike. Some exercise will be good for us_.)

Wes grinned. "Well, with that settled, let's go." He turned and began making his way down the street towards the Pokemon Center, reflective shades pulled down over his eyes and moving very quickly.

Rui sighed. "Men…" she muttered in annoyance, but followed at a jog anyway. Wes needed her, and she had a feeling he always would.

* * *

"What are you doing, James?" Jessie asked him for the hundredth time as he stowed various supplies in their balloon. It wouldn't do to be caught without food or water on this kind of trip. They couldn't afford to stop to steal, not now.

James finally acknowledged Jessie and Meowth's presences when the redhead whacked him over the head with a huge paper fan. However, he was hardly sent reeling as she must have expected him to. Instead, James rubbed absently at the bump on the back of his head before sighing and turning to face her fully for the first time since he has walked into the Team Rocket hangar.

"We're leaving," he said shortly. _Food, water, fuel…what am I missing?_ James wondered. He checked his pockets – Cacnea and Chimecho were on hand. It would probably have been better if he still had Weezing and Victreebell…

"What?!" Meowth and Jessie shouted in unison.

Ah. Right. He'd needed to tell the two of them his plans.

James took a deep breath again and began to sort out his rapidly-changing thoughts. How could he possibly say this in a way they could understand?

"Okay…" James began slowly. The other two leaned in to listen. "Until further notice, I don't count myself as a member of Team Rocket anymore."

He had to plug his ears to keep his eardrums from being blown out.

"But why?!" Jessie demanded.

James said flatly. "The Boss just ordered Cassidy, her partner, and I to pick an executioner for that redheaded twerp from earlier. I can't – and won't – allow myself to participate in something like that, or stay in an organization that does so."

The ensuing shouting match nearly brought the hangar down on their heads.

* * *

Meanwhile, the sun had risen in Slateport City. Wes, having decided to stake out the Pokemon Center rather than return to the inn with Rui, sat in one of the booth-style tables in the cafeteria area. He had ordered an omelet and coffee (black and almost hopelessly bitter, since he would prefer not to become dependant on it), but he wasn't so much eating as reading the local newspaper. In fact, his omelet had gone cold quite a while ago and he didn't really care.

Wes traced the front page's headline with dull interest: 'Panic On Beachfront – Team Rocket Attack'. _Big deal,_ Wes thought, bored. _They're idiots for calling attention to their 'secret' organization._ He idly swallowed a bit of his coffee, blanching at the taste. _I must be a masochist._ If continuously getting up at six in the morning while unemployed and drinking horrible-tasting coffee wasn't masochistic, he didn't know what was.

Wes stabbed blindly at his eggs and swallowed the mouthful, ignoring the odd texture of cooled cheese and egg and concentrating on the paper with almost fanatical attentiveness. Checking the clock on the wall, he realized that it was about eight at this point, and he folded up the _Slateport Times_ with a sigh. He'd been sitting there for two hours without noticing.

Glancing off to the side, he saw Cyrus and Jericho were still asleep. He debated on whether or not to wake either of them, and then decided not to. He and the twins had been on alternating guard duty over the last twelve hours. Wes had only been on his watch for two hours, while the other two had been on duty four hours each. His shift wasn't over yet, but he wondered if it was safe to lower their guard during the light hours.

Wes was spared the decision when he heard someone open a door in the hallway leading to the guest rooms. Nurse Joy was already awake and had been the one to perform a check-up on Cyrus and Jericho, so it couldn't have been her.

He half-turned and spotted a green-haired boy wandering wearily out of what Wes guess was his room. A larger-than-average Roselia followed him, unusually sprightly so early in the morning (for a Pokemon Trainer, anyway). Wes calmly stirred his coffee, wondering if he should order another cup.

Jericho woke at that moment and, untangling himself from his twin, he sprang towards the Roselia, curiosity in every movement. He met the Grass-type head-on, yipping cheerfully. The Roselia backed up slightly before patting the Umbreon on the head with one of her roses.

Jericho yipped again, rousing Cyrus, who quickly bounded over to the boy and his Roselia, chirping in exactly the manner his brother had before. Sighing, Wes got up and strode over to the frolicking Pokemon.

"Jericho, Cyrus, calm down," he said, quietly but firmly. "It's not as if you haven't seen a Roselia before." The twins calmed instantly, though they still made purring noises. Wes went to one knee and scratched both of them behind the ears.

The green-haired boy merely cocked his head curiously at him. "Who are you? You weren't here when the Pokemon Center closed last night."

Wes smirked faintly, meeting the boy's green gaze squarely. "The name's Wes. Nice to meet you."

To his surprise, the boy grinned in a self-assured manner and said in an even tone, "Drew from LaRousse City. Likewise." His Roselia bowed at the same time, inciting improvised applause from the Eevee evolutions.

The sound of more doors opening heralded the arrival of the other boys, Wes guessed. He straightened, then walked over to the PC in the corner to see if he had anything to sort out before heading out for the day. Everything here seemed to be fine.

Peripherally, Wes was aware that four more boys had joined the first. Two of them were the same height as Drew, while one was shorter (and presumably younger) and the other seemed older by a few years.

One was black-haired and dark-eyed, with a Pikachu perched on his shoulder. He wore a black T-shirt and loose jeans, though it didn't detract from the obvious fact that he'd just woken up.

The shortest of the group was dark-haired with glasses, and Wes got the distinct impression of a book-smart kid from him. Since he was usually good at reading people, he wouldn't be surprised if he was right.

The tallest kid was dark-skinned with extremely narrow eyes and spiky brown hair. He wore a brown T-short and cargo pants, and Wes had a feeling that he was the 'mature one' of the group.

The last was definitely the Michael kid. Short and slim, as well as being redheaded and green-eyed, he fit the description to a T. In fact, if Wes wasn't mistaken, the boy's hairstyle was a fair mimicry of his own spikes.

At that moment, Jericho decided to go against the earlier reprimand and dashed over to the redhead's side. Wes and Cyrus watched curiously as another Umbreon, one with a prominent white scar on her side padded out from behind Michael and touched her nose to Jericho's.

Wes had to cover his grin quickly; it was unusual for any of his Pokemon to find a potential mate so soon, and Jericho was taking advantage of it.

"Jericho, be nice." Wes ordered in a very even tone. Jericho immediately stood at attention, though he had a strangely mischievous look in his red-rimmed blue eyes. Wes scratched him behind the ears affectionately.

"Is this Umbreon yours?" Michael asked. Wes looked up. Wide-eyed and smiling, he did not look like someone who had single-handedly dismantled Cipher. Particularly not at the age of twelve.

_He's a little like I used to be._ "Yes." _But thankfully not too much so_. "He's a little forward sometimes."

Wes reflexively pushed his reflective sunglasses farther up on his head noting the fact that the redhead had a pair of goggles in a similar position over his blue headband. _Yet another similarity._

His PDA chose that moment to let off its signature four-tone beep, alerting him to a new email. Wes obediently pulled it out and checked the thing, noting that Michael seemed to be a little surprised at the sight of it – after all, the devices weren't common in Hoenn.

Wes's PDA was actually more advanced than the typical models, even if they were built several years more recently. After all, what was the point of having a genius like Nett for a friend if there weren't any perks?

The fact that Wes's PDA functioned more like a Johto-style Pokegear was one of those perks.

"_Wes, where the heck are you?!_" Rui yelled from the other end of the line. In a more reasonable tone she went on, "_You didn't come back _at all_ last night. I thought something had happened to you._"

"Sorry. I got a little tied up." Wes wandered back over to the booth where he'd left his breakfast to get cold. Only Cyrus hopped onto the table and walked over it to sit next to him – Jericho was still preoccupied by Michael's Umbreon.

"_That had better not be a joke._" Rui warned. "_I was really worried. Is everything okay?_"

"Well enough, I think." Wes replied. "Everyone's in one piece and the city is still intact. Cipher hasn't taken over the entire Hoenn region, Rui, so you can relax."

"_Not yet._" Rui countered, and Wes agreed silently. They were treading on thin ice and walking on eggshells simultaneously. With _two different_ criminal organizations, even. Then she said, "_You know what, let's plan on the move now_. _We can't really afford to slack off, but we aren't getting anything done by stressing over something that's going to come when it comes_."

"_Said like a true survivor_." Wes complimented – he had employed a similar motto during his thieving days.

"_Whatever. Let's spend the day out – I need a relaxing day after that crazy cross-continent ride._" Rui muttered. She did seem tired…Wes would let up, just this once.

"Your wish is my command," he said in a deceptively mild voice. "Bye."

"_Bye. I'll see you in twenty minutes, oka_y?"

"Okay."

* * *

Michael watched curiously as the sandy-haired man ended the call on his PDA. PDAs were an Orre-only invention, much in the way that PokeGears were for Johto and PokeNavs for Hoenn. And if he wasn't mistaken, the blue-and-red device on the man's arm was…a Snag Machine?!

Michael felt the blood drain out of his face as the man and his two Eevee evolutions left through the front entrance. "Who was that?" he asked no one in particular, eyes locked on the place he'd first glimpsed the machine.

Drew yawned, lifting his Roselia onto the counter for the just-arrived Nurse Joy to inspect. "He said his name was Wes." He looked blankly around at everyone else, who were staring at him with something akin too shock on their faces. "What?"

"That…that was the original Snagger." Michael said, looking stunned. "He single-handedly dismantled Cipher during the height of their power and permanently crippled Team Snagem." Why would a legendary trainer like him be in Slateport City?

"…Should I have asked for his autograph, then?" Drew asked sarcastically.

Michael barely restrained the urge to hit him.

Jovi chose that moment to make her entrance, dragging Ash by the arm right out of the Pokemon Center. If Michael wasn't mistaken, she and Ash both had screamed "Breakfast!" exactly one second before disappearing into the city.

"They've got the right idea." May said, coming out from the hallway bathroom. "We can save the arguing until we eat. It's no good to get into a bad mood before breakfast."

Michael ceded the point and he, Brock, Drew, Max, and May left the Pokemon Center. Moondance and Roselia followed close behind, shaking their heads at their Trainers' strangeness.

* * *

Rui was fifteen when she first met Wes. Before then, she had never taken her life before seriously. She had never given a thought to what she would do when she left her teenage years. She had never even thought about the problems in the world around her beyond those within the scope of her hometown.

And then she had made the mistake of identifying a Shadow Makuhita. The same Makuhita that later attacked Wes when they were just starting out on their mission to save the Shadow Pokemon had been the start of the whole mess.

The two thugs who worked for Miror B., Trudly and Folly, had grabbed her and stuffed her into a burlap sack. Rui couldn't remember if she'd kicked one of them in the jaw or not, but she was very sure she'd struggled. She screamed from the place she'd been captured all the way to Pyrite Town.

She remembered hearing Wes's voice very distantly a while before she'd been freed. He'd told her about the incident at the Outskirt Stand, but by then Rui was devoted enough to him to forgive the moment of hesitation. When Wes had beaten Trudly and Folly and freed her, she swore to herself never to take anything for granted again.

But that oath was hard to remember when Wes was running late.

Rui was twenty now and most of her star-struck demeanor had faded shortly after the Cipher incident. She still loved Wes and would follow him to the ends of the earth, but she wasn't going to allow herself to let him off the hook if he seriously annoyed her.

Rui had stopped wearing pigtails after someone had teased her about being too childish, and she started wearing a very high ponytail at about the same time. Even after five years, she still wore only enough makeup to cover the freckles on her nose and didn't bother trying to add anything else. After all, cosmetics didn't last long in the sand-blasted plains of Orre.

Rui looked up at the right time and saw Wes turn the corner and stride toward her, Cyrus and Jericho in tow.

Wes himself was twenty-one or whereabouts. He was supposed to be responsible, less excitable, and well-adjusted to the wide world. In actuality, he was responsible on anything including Pokemon and nothing that did not, _completely_ unflappable, and born for surviving and not much else. Wes had a much harder time adjusting to his life when more and more people entered it, but Rui was always there to smooth things over.

Wes still wore his signature blue coat often enough, but it was impractical in Slateport City's heat. Instead, he wore the black sleeveless shirt that was usually under the coat, the Snag Machine displayed openly on his left arm as always. Wes's sandy hair was as full of styling gel as ever, and his golden eyes were wide awake despite the strange schedule they had been keeping. The only thing missing besides the coat was the white strip across the bridge of his nose, which he had stopped wearing after they left Orre several years ago.

Rui sighed as she remembered how that had turned out. Wes had only wanted to leave to avoid dealing with the people who had been fooled by Fein. His reputation ruined, there had been no real reason to stay in Orre and the two of them had gone to Johto.

In fact, Rui had gotten the impression that Wes had actually wanted to move to Johto for some reason other than to escape the accusations from Orre's population. He had even bought a house in Blackthorn City with the money he won from defeated trainers. Whatever the motive, the entire thing had been spoiled by Cipher's unexpected attack outside Mahogany Town. She and Wes had been forced into hiding for quite a while before they decided to head to Kanto.

Rui had realized rather early on that she was never going to go back home. Her parents, bless them, were in Olivine City and had only the vaguest clue where their daughter had gone after her tenth birthday. She had said she'd wanted to be a Pokemon Trainer, but she actually just wanted to see the wide world, boarding the S.S. Aqua for other regions without a care in the world.

"Rui, where do you want to go?" Wes asked, snapping the woman out of her thoughts. Ginger the Plusle, who had kindly been patient enough to wait through her musings, agreed with a chirp.

Rui tapped her chin thoughtfully and said, "Let's check out that bakery two streets back. I've got a craving for something sweet." Ginger squeaked in delight.

"Same as ever, Rui." Wes said with a smirk – he never really smiled. "Let's."

* * *

Wes didn't like sweet foods half as much as Rui did, so he picked at his root beer float with an elongated spoon, bored. He'd just eaten breakfast and while it was already seventy degrees Fahrenheit outside, it simply wasn't warm enough for something cold enough to make Wes's teeth ache.

He glanced out of the large glass window near their table, wishing idly that Rui had chosen to go to some place with access to something spicier than gingerbread cookies. It was much more efficient in the heat to eat spicy foods than down a liter of soda.

Ginger took up room on Rui's shoulder, eating a fruit tart without pausing to breathe. Jericho sat next to Wes, occasionally swiping licks of whipped cream from his chosen dessert but otherwise keeping to his bowl of Pokemon food. Cyrus, on the other hand, was on the table next to Rui's milkshake and was devouring a small stack of Bluk Berry pancakes. Wes made a mental note to put the lavender Pokemon on a strict diet afterwards.

"Wes, you aren't eating anything." Rui noted.

To placate her, Wes dutifully took a long sip from the root beer float, otherwise ignoring her and staring out the window.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. Wes didn't look at her, aware that if she stared at him just the right way (like she was probably doing right that moment), he'd immediately bow to her will. It was like water to an Onix for him.

"Not really. I think–" Wes cut himself off, attention suddenly caught by the sight outside the window. "It's those kids again."

Rui followed his gaze and Wes knew she saw the distinctive redhead and his friends in the distance. They seemed to be following a blue-haired girl and black-haired boy who were speeding towards the restaurant Rui had chosen.

"This could be bad." Wes said quietly. He was already on guard – there was nothing to tell him what the redhead's personality was like. Was he aggressive (or stupid) enough to attack on sight?

"If we were on the other side, maybe." Rui replied, willing him to calm down. Wes was always on edge. "I think we'll be okay."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Wes growled, but he stayed his hand and decided not to put Cyrus or Jericho on high alert. Something _always_ went wrong whenever the situation could be solved in one fell swoop. After a lifetime of being blindsided by such incidents, Wes had no intention of falling for yet another.

(_I'll keep track of our surroundings_.) Jericho volunteered nonetheless.

(_I will too_.) Cyrus added. (_Something seems…off_.)

The statement was enough to set Wes's habitual paranoia into full rampage for the first time since Cipher's first attempted takeover of Orre. It was only mildly tempered by the fact that both Cyrus and Jericho were also on their guard.

The blue-haired girl and the black-haired boy (and his Pikachu) entered the restaurant, waiting for their friends to catch up. Michael and the green-haired boy, Drew, made it first, telling the hostess that there were _seven_ people in the group, not two.

The hostess led the large group to their seats; incidentally, the booth directly across from the table Wes and Rui occupied.

Wes noted that two girls had joined the group – besides the blue-haired girl, there was a blue-eyed brunette wearing a red bandanna with a Pokeball on it.

And it appeared that Jericho recognized the group as well. The Umbreon bounded over to the female Wes had noticed in the Pokemon Center earlier; he supposed she belonged to Michael. Cyrus watched their interaction with interest, momentarily forgetting his role as a lookout, which Ginger immediately took up with gusto and Pecha Berry stains around her mouth.

"Jericho." The Umbreon pair immediately looked at him curiously, but Jericho didn't heed Wes's unspoken command. Not for the first time, Wes wondered if the Eevee evolution had been spending too much time around Rui.

"Stubborn." Wes grumbled, debating on whether or not to grab his old friend and let him know exactly what he thought about the idea of Jericho and Michael's Umbreon getting together.

(_Don't be so inflexible. This is a good chance to talk to Moondance's Trainer_.) Jericho chided mockingly.

(_Are you sure you're not just saying that because you like her?_) Wes countered dryly.

(_Well, she _is_ cute_.) Jericho admitted.

(_I think I lost the chance already._) Wes noted mentally to Jericho, watching as the redhead scratched his Umbreon's head but eyed Wes with suspicion. (_It is very lost indeed_.) Wes deadpanned.

Not willing to be outwitted, Jericho leapt onto the other table, stealing the black-haired boy's hat from his head, and ricocheting off his grabbing arms, bounced onto Michael's head. From there, the Umbreon bounded to Wes and Rui's table, where he sat, one ear cocked as if in challenge.

"I think you need a different training regimen." Wes told Jericho, his tone remarkably flat as Michael's table erupted in shouts. "One styled after the police Growlithe squad, I think."

Jericho winked at him.

Wes caught the hat thief by the scruff of his neck, plucking the hat from his mouth and wordlessly handing it back to his owner. Then he held up Jericho's Pokeball. "In the ball if you can't behave yourself."

Jericho waggled his ears playfully and moved off to the side, wisely choosing to sit next to Rui for the remainder of the outing.

"Sorry about that." Wes said to the black-haired boy, who had already replaced his hat on his head and whose Pikachu was already sitting on it. "He's usually not so badly-behaved."

"He must be showing off for someone," the brunette said coyly. Wes bumped his estimation of her intelligence up one notch, if rather reluctantly. A blind Mankey could have pointed that out.

"It's okay," Black-hair said mildly. "I would've gotten it back sooner or later."

Wes ceded the point. "I suppose so. Who are you all? Well, excluding you, Drew, since we've already met."

"Ash." Black-hair said.

"I'm Brock," said the tall one in brown, orange, and green.

"My name's May," said the brunette.

"Jovi is Jovi," the blue-haired girl said cheerfully.

"Max," said the short boy with glasses.

"And I'm Michael." Michael said. Wes already knew his name, of course, but it would be rude to point that out.

"Wes," he said, "and this is Rui."

Wes saw the redhead's brows furrow. "Are you the same Wes that beat Cipher five years ago?" As if the Snag Machine weren't clue enough, Wes thought.

"Yes." Wes said shortly. He knew he was being almost painfully brief, but he also didn't think that they could really afford to waste time. He nodded to Jericho and Cyrus. "These are my partners. The Umbreon is Jericho. Cyrus is the Espeon."

"And you must be the boy who defeated Cipher six months ago, right?" Rui asked pleasantly. Wes saw Michael cringe. "I guess so. Congratulations, then."

"Ah…" Michael looked as though he was rather embarrassed.

"Don't say it was nothing." Wes said, looking out the window again. As he felt the group's eyes on him, he went on. "You single-handedly defeated one of the most stubborn and dangerous criminal organizations on the planet. As a kid, too." Wes glanced back at them. "The luck and skill involved in that sort of thing borders on sheer impossibility. Don't downplay that."

"Um…okay?" Wes wasn't surprised that the redhead didn't understand. Wes had had a much longer time to adjust to his lot in life – he wasn't afraid of Cipher. Nascour, Evice, and all of the other Cipher heads were just more opponents to defeat. Just another win, with the added bonus of helping Pokemon.

But a twelve-year-old wouldn't have that boy, would he? Michael was still young; too young, in fact. The idea that a mere child had been forced to lay waste to Cipher – alone – bothered Wes more than he liked to admit.

"I've got an idea." Wes said mildly, still not looking directly at anyone. "How about we have a battle? Let's see which Snagger is better."

Michael was once again nearly shocked speechless. "Ah…okay." He held up a Pokeball, smiling confidently. "I accept your challenge."

Wes gave him a smirk. "Good. I'll show you why Team Snagem was _very_ sorry to annoy me." Likewise, he held up a Master Ball. "Let's head outside."

* * *

Michael didn't show it, but he was extremely nervous. The first Snagger – his idol, even – had challenged him to a match. Given, Wes wasn't like a Cipher agent who would knock him out and take his Pokemon if he lost, but Michael worried nonetheless. His opponent was older and more experienced, as were his Pokemon. This was going to be tough. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Michael took his place on one side of the square. Wes stood opposite him, nearly fifty feet away.

Brock and Rui stood mid-field, where a judge would make the calls in an official match. Ash, Jovi, and Max sat near them on benches, devouring several plates of scrambled eggs and one large jug of chocolate milk. May, on the other hand, was slurping her fruit smoothie and seeming rather well-mannered compared to the others.

"This battle is a six-on-six match between Wes and Michael." Rui said in an unusually calm voice. Brock, too, seemed rather composed compared to his reaction to the Slateport City Nurse Joy. After all, he _was_ standing next to Rui, who, in Michael's opinion anyway, made the many Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys of the world seem rather bland by comparison. Michael doubted either Wes or Rui would want to hear that from him, though. "No time limit and substitutions are allowed. This is a double battle, so battle like Orre Trainers do best!"

"Ready?" Brock half-shouted to the two Snaggers. Wes nodded calmly. Michael swallowed and copied him, trying to avoid broadcasting his anxiety to his opponent. "Begin!"

As soon as Brock spoke, Wes whipped out a pair of Pokeballs. "Jericho, Cyrus, let's go!" He tossed both into the air, revealing his dominant pair of Orre battlers. "Let's win this!"

Wes's Espeon and Umbreon were unusually composed, Michael noted, and he began to worry again.

"I choose you, Telemon and Corona!" Michael shouted at the same time, pulling out both Pokeballs.

And now it was even – a Houndoom and a Gardevoir versus an Espeon and an Umbreon. Two Dark, two Psychic. Corona howled, drawing the Jericho's attention, to which he responded with a snarl. Telemon merely stared that the other Psychic-type impassively as Cyrus's forked tail waved idly back and forth.

Michael saw Wes's teeth for the first time that day; he was grinning. "Good choice, kid. But don't expect me to give up at a tie."

Michael grinned back. "I wouldn't dream of it."

The four Pokemon clashed.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay - Writer's Block attacks in swarms. Still, enjoy this chapter.

Read and review! (Seriously, they help a lot with motivation.)


	8. Out of Left Field

Chapter Eight: Out of Left Field

A/N: Seriously, what did you _expect_?

…

(Thanks for the feedback, everyone!)

* * *

Jericho and Corona hit head-on. Corona's larger size gave her a chance to toss the other Dark-type back. Her horns' hardness stunned the Umbreon for only a moment before he was back in the fray, tail glowing in a very distinctive manner.

"Jericho, Iron Tail!" Wes ordered.

"Corona, use Crunch!" Michael shouted at the same time.

Jericho's tail swung forward, like a club. Even if Corona was a Fire-type, she could still be hurt by a Steel-type attack from such a strong opponent. Therefore, the Houndoom listened to her master and opened her mouth wide, fangs exposed.

When both of them had finished, Corona had caught Jericho's tail in her jaws and was swinging him around by it like a chew toy.

"Cyrus, use Return!" Wes called.

The Espeon began shaking and then charged for Corona while glowing a faint pink color. Michael recognized the attack and its nature instantly. And he knew that despite an Espeon's low physical attack power, Corona had correspondingly weak defenses.

"Telemon, use Thunderbolt to stop Cyrus!" Michael yelled, spurring the Gardevoir into action.

The larger Psychic-type glided between Cyrus and Corona before loosing the charge with all he had. Cyrus was blasted sideways but he simply redirected his attack and slammed into Telemon's midsection instead. Telemon swatted the lavender Pokemon aside and then automatically switched mental gears.

"Telemon, use Hypnosis!" Michael called, just as the Gardevoir knew he would.

"Too slow!" Wes yelled. "Cyrus, use Safeguard!" A silver veil of light shrouded the Espeon, forcing Telemon's mental waves to simply bounce off.

Michael gritted his teeth – this was the first time he hadn't been able to defeat an opponent in less than three moves. Granted, most of those opponents were just Cipher's grunts, but Wes was a lot stronger than even a Cipher Admin like Snattle! No one had ever stood up to this many attacks.

"Nice try, kid." Wes remarked. "You're not bad for a twelve-year-old." A mischievous grin crossed his face. "But I don't feel like playing around. Let's see what you can do."

Michael blinked only once. Then he understood. "Corona, use Overheat at full power! Telemon, let Cyrus see how he likes your Psychic attack!"

"Jericho, Hyper Beam! Cyrus, you too!" Wes called.

Both sides began charging their attacks: Jericho and Cyrus had globes of orange energy gathering in front of their mouths, while Telemon's red eyes glowed blue and Corona sucked in a deep breath, forming a ball of white energy wreathed in flames in her jaws.

"FIRE!!" All four blasts of energy – raw, kinetic, and fiery – were launched simultaneously. They collided in the air at exactly the same spot and their force was released in an explosion that shook the nearby buildings. Smoke poured from the collision point as if someone had thrown a grenade.

And despite all of that, when the smoke cleared, all four Pokémon were still standing.

Cyrus favored one side and was panting heavily, while his twin merely seemed winded, but not injured. Telemon floated in the air, apparently having used Reflect to block the attack to some extent. Corona stood, but her limbs shook violently.

"Is everyone okay?" Michael called. Telemon grunted an affirmative noise and drifted to the ground. Corona just stood there and panted, trying to stay steady.

"…" Wes merely tilted his head at his Pokémon duo. They responded with enthusiastic yips. Instead of taking their word for it, however, Wes held out their Pokéballs. "…Return."

Cyrus gave a whine of protest, but Jericho accepted their trainer's decision without making a sound. He knew that Wes's choices were usually the right ones. When he had a choice, anyway. Both of them vanished in a beam of red light.

At the same time, Michael also recalled both of his Pokémon. They were more tired than they would admit and he knew it. He wouldn't allow either Corona or Telemon to get too badly hurt in this battle; he still needed their strength for the coming war. Though he didn't know the identity of his opponent this time, he recognized them as a threat and had to prepare.

Battling a veteran would be good training.

* * *

Wes gave the redhead a quick grin before calling out his next pair of Pokémon. This time, he held an Ultra Ball and a Pokéball. This kid had to grow up fast – there was no way Wes was planning on fighting the new Cipher alone. He needed someone who could fight as his equal, since Rui obviously couldn't. Rui hadn't the will needed to triumph directly against Shadow Pokémon at their worst, and that was why Wes had to force Michael to learn.

It was a cruel way to become stronger, but Wes knew that they didn't have much time. Danger was already coming in greater numbers than he had ever seen. A world of unprepared trainers wouldn't stand a chance.

And they were its defense.

Wes knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cipher would come in hard and fast. They always had before, and it had worked for them thus far. They would crush anyone who couldn't stand in their way. That, too, had always worked.

But Cipher had made a mistake both times before. They had allowed the rage in the ones they had trampled to fester. They had created their own greatest enemies; in doing so, Cipher had sealed its own fate.

Cipher had given him to Team Snagem. Cipher had been the ones who ordered Jericho and Cyrus to be turned into Shadows and the Snag Machine to be taken from him. In a mere ten years, they had spawned the flaw in their decades-long plan.

Cipher had made him angry by nearly destroying the columns of his life.

Wes had returned the favor tenfold. If they would ruin his life, they would pay.

And so they did. He rescued Rui from her kidnappers. He defeated the Cipher thugs in his way. Wes dismantled the Shadow Pokémon ring in Pyrite Town with nary a thought, soon moving on to Agate and crushing the operation there. Then he beat Dakim at his own game on Mount Battle. Then he tore up the Under like no desert storm they had ever seen. Moving on, he defeated Ein in the man's own base and stole his Shadow Raikou.

Even the scheme at Realgam Tower hadn't lasted long. Wes battled his way through Miror B., Dakim, Venus, and Ein all over again, soon making it to Nascour without his Pokémon breaking a sweat. Nascour had been nothing more than a worthless scrap of defense for Cipher's then-leader in the face of Wes's underlying anger. Evice himself had been less than pathetic, even trying to escape at the last second after his Shadow Tyranitar had been securely Snagged. Ho-Oh had responded by blowing the pudgy old has-been out of the sky with its Sacred Fire attack.

Wes had thought his journey was over then, that he could retire from Pokémon battles in peace and live out his remaining years as unobtrusive as possible. He had been sorely mistaken.

Barely a week after Evice had been sent off to a desert prison, Nett had informed him of still more Shadow Pokémon and shady characters running around in Cipher's place.

That had sent Wes into another search. He scoured the land and defeated every trainer that carried a Shadow Pokémon. He fought through Battle Square several times to this end and defeated Cail in more than a dozen matches. The path lit for him led him back to that gutted Team Snagem base.

Back to the beginning, indeed. He had overpowered his former boss yet again, forcing Gonzap to go into hiding for fear of arrest.

That act had led to yet another: soon after, Wes had entered the Under Colosseum with the intention of swiping the last Pokémon on his Shadow List from the Under King.

That man alone had been a challenge. After months of near-continuous battles and even occasional training on Mount Battle, the others had been nothing. Even the battles with Cipher Admins showing up for round three had been wastes of time.

In the end, Wes had gotten his way and the man's Ursaring.

Another two weeks passed quickly by. While Wes had been resting in Agate Village, recovering from the months of continuous fighting, an imposter with a Shadow Togetic had been stirring things up again, painting him as a vandal and criminal.

Wes had ground the imposter and his team into the desert sands and left with a new Togetic.

By that time, he had been so tired that he could hardly think. The battles themselves would have been nothing if they had been fought separately, but he was forced into days upon days of nothing but trying to stay alive (for Wes had no illusions about what would be done with him if he ever lost to a Cipher thug). The string of conflict had taken its toll and by the end Wes had lost faith with most of humanity.

How could they let something like this happen? How could they not notice the hate and pain radiating from their Pokémon that Rui saw so well? If Wes, hardened as he was, was aware of the problem even in Pokémon Rui hadn't yet identified, what were the rest of the Pokémon trainers in the world like? If Wes, jaded as any wind-shaped sandstone, could keep away from the temptation Shadow Pokémon promised, how could they keep going on so stupidly and greedily?

Rui had helped him pull free of the shadows. Rui, who had never once disappointed him, who had always amazed him with her ability to _feel_, had showed him the light. Rui had taken his scarred soul and helped it heal.

In fact, if Wes had to name any one moment that he felt was the turning point in his life, it was the time when Rui had heard his dark past and dismissed it as if it were nothing. Rui had eased his anger even in the early point of their journey. She had showed him to give mercy, even to the most disgusting souls either of them had ever known existed. She had taught him how to feel as if life was worth it.

Well, that wasn't entirely accurate.

Rui had shown him that _she_ was worth everything he could possibly go through to be by her side. _Everything_.

So when he had requested that one thing she hadn't given to him freely, he had been more than stunned that she had said yes. He had asked her to live with him. She had agreed without hesitation.

If he had ever needed confirmation that he loved her, he had gotten it in that one moment. And her reply had sealed the bond both ways.

And it was because of that that he couldn't hurt her.

Wes wouldn't put her in danger if he could find any way of avoiding it. She could and would follow him to the ends of the earth, though, so he couldn't exactly keep her out of the enemy's sights. That, he knew, was the truth and it always would be.

When he looked at Michael and his sister, he saw a different sort of bond.

Michael had fought his battles as a child and alone. He had put a scorched hole through Cipher without any backup. He had triumphed over Cipher without getting himself killed (for Wes knew that going against them alone was the Orre equivalent of suicide).

And it had taken its toll. His sister hadn't been with him like Rui had been with Wes. Michael had had distant support, of course, but that meant next to nothing. Wes had already been old inside when he had decided to rip Cipher apart one piece at a time, but Michael had been forced to grow up.

With Jovi by his side now, Wes had to wonder if the boy would survive a second age-up. Once was torture – the second could kill him.

Wes shook his head to rid his mind of such doubts. If he didn't prepare the boy now, Cipher's plans for him would definitely do a much more painful job of it.

Wes held his chosen Pokémon aloft. "I hope you're ready for this, Michael of Orre." Wes whispered.

He threw them, releasing the beasts within.

* * *

Jessie, James, and Meowth arrived in their balloon in either the very best or very worst situation any of them had ever thought of, depending on which way one looked at it.

In Jessie and Meowth's eyes, it was a golden opportunity the likes of which they had never seen before.

In James's, it was the worst thing he could imagine.

As a boy, he had been read stories about the truly legendary Pokémon. Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos…he had seen some of them in real life, even.

But then they had been free. They had been their own masters and were true forces of nature. Not so now.

James had no idea how the gray-haired man had gotten his hands on Suicune and Entei, or who he was. But the former Team Rocket member got the impression that Giovanni's forces had gotten here early.

* * *

Michael stared. For the first time since he had just started fighting Cipher, he felt truly fearful. The Pokéballs in his hands and the Pokémon inside – Iceberg and Amps – seemed a thousand miles away; they were as separate from him as his father.

Seeing the two legendary Pokémon under his fellow Snagger's control was just…horrifying.

_We don't steal Pokémon_, he wanted to shout at Wes, the man who had firmly shattered his dreams of a perfect hero. _We don't steal! We save them from their captors and help them heal and let them go and_ –

But he knew the argument would fall flat. "How could you do such a thing…?" Michael heard the whispered words fall from his mouth, but he didn't really register it. "How could you just…"

"Keep them?" Wes put in, one eyebrow arched. "Maybe the question should be: Do I even have a choice?"

_What_? Michael thought, outraged. "Of course you do! Every trainer has a choice to make when it comes to Pokémon! And the legends should never be owned by anyone!" _It's like…chaining down a ghost._

The icy look was back on Wes's tanned face. "That is the question, isn't it? It's true that there's no way to justify my ownership of Suicune, Entei, Raikou, or Ho-Oh." His expression darkened still further.

"But, similarly, is there any way to say that I won't die if forced to give them up?" Wes asked rhetorically. Michael froze, but his hands clenched in anger. "If I let up, even for a moment, Cipher will strike me down. Over the five years since I stopped being a Snagger, I've been attacked more than twenty times. Not challenged – _attacked_. They even went after Rui.

"That was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back. I couldn't lay low – I stand out too much. So, Rui and I decided to check out the thugs who'd decided I had a target on my back." Wes laughed bitterly and Michael winced. Wes lowered his voice somewhat, sounding serious and yet somehow like he was scolding the redhead. "And what do you know? They'd decided I must have died on that last attempt. It would've been fine with me if Team Rocket and Cipher thought that – I'd be able to get on with the sixty years I have left.

"Except then they decided _you_ were the next snag in their plan." Wes said harshly, not sparing a bit of the truth from Michael. It hurt, but it had to be said. "I could live with being left alone, but I wasn't about to let them hurt someone who couldn't have been involved with any of the crap the world's dealt with since Cipher and its lackeys showed up.

"I wasn't going to let anything happen." Wes sighed and closed his eyes. Then he shook his head. "And it seems I'm my own worst enemy right now." He glanced at the legendary pair in front of him – violet, blue, red, and brown. "Entei, Suicune."

They looked at him over their shoulders, curious.

Wes hadn't been a _bad _trainer, per se, but the legends were meant to be free. They felt it in their bones and always had. Suicune, Entei, their third sibling Raikou, and their creator, Ho-Oh, were all supposed to be roaming wild in the land of Johto. Years previous, Ho-Oh had fled, and had subsequently left the three lesser beasts with no protection against Team Snagem's agents.

Suicune blinked curiously at their trainer, wondering.

(_After this last battle, there's no reason for me to keep you here anymore_. _You'll be able to leave at any time you want_.) Wes said mentally. There was, after all, no point to having the ability for psychic conversation if it only worked with one or two Pokémon. He had picked it up from Cyrus several years previously, when the need for silence had been paramount.

Suicune nodded. Entei let out a low growl and sent him a wave of impatience, making Wes wince slightly under its weight. Neither Pokémon was a Psychic-type, but they could send impressions and emotions that made him feel like a sledgehammer had been brought down between his eyes.

"I understand." Wes said aloud to the two. "Ready to go?"

Suicune gave a howl and took a half-step forward. Entei just stood a little prouder.

Wes turned his attention back to the redhead. "This is their last battle with me. Don't worry about them."

Michael's mouth set into a grim line and he said nothing. Wes wasn't worried; the kid would learn soon enough. Wes wasn't greedy – he was simply a very good planner. He knew that Entei, Suicune, Raikou and Ho-Oh had all been necessary to beat Cipher the previous time around. This time, though, they were needed more in their home lands of Johto.

Wes figured if Michael had been able to defeat the Cipher head and snag all of the old man's Shadows in one shot without any legendary Pokémon on his side, he could, too.

Michael held out his chosen Pokémon and tossed the Pokéballs into the air.

"Amps, Iceberg, let's make this one count!" Michael called as the pair materialized in bursts of light.

_Well done, kid_, Wes thought. _You might be able to take this after all_. "Entei, use Flamethrower on Ampharos! Suicune, Iron Tail!"

The ribbon-like extensions from Suicune's back glowed white and lashed forward at the Walrein. At the same moment, Entei exhaled a stream of bright orange flames at Amps.

"Amps, Thunderpunch on Suicune. Walrein, use Hydro Pump on Entei!" As soon as Michael spoke, the Ampharos lashed out with a sparking right hook, catching Suicune on the side of its head just as the two heavy ribbons crashed into her forehead. Similarly, Iceberg and Entei were involved in a reverse tug-of-war, trying to force their attacks past each other.

Suicune seemed to ignore the electric strike, swatting Amps away with its still-glowing tails. Amps came back just as quickly, this time attacking by hitting the Legendary Pokémon with a half-charged Thunderbolt. Entei and Iceberg's duel spilled over then, simultaneously drenching and cooking all four combatants.

* * *

"This is brutal." May said softly, eyes wide with shock and horror. "How can they just fight and fight...?"

Rui interrupted, though somewhat reluctantly. "This is what happens to all Snaggers eventually, I think. Wes never held back before, so now he's pushing Michael to get better."

"Get better for what?" Ash demanded. "This isn't battling...it's something else."

"I'll agree with you on that." Drew put in, eyes narrowed to green slits. "No one battles like this." As if to reinforce the sentiment, Amps was sent crashing to the ground yet again before staggering back to her feet and charging into the fray one more. She was only met with another Ice Beam from Suicune, and she was quickly tiring. At the same moment, Walrein slammed the ground so hard that it shook beneath their feet, knocking Amps onto her back again and making both Legendary Pokémon lose their balance for a moment.

"_Au contraire_," was all Rui said on the matter_._

"What do you mean by that?" Max asked.

He was somewhat more polite than the others, so Rui gave him an abbreviated explanation. "Cipher's back. They've learned not to underestimate opposing trainers, so they're not going to let us just fight our way up. They'll come fast and hard and Wes is making sure that Michael will be able to stand against them."

Jovi bit her lower lip, wringing her hands nervously. This did not sound like it boded well.

May noticed her agitated movements and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Jovi looked up at her quickly, blue eyes wide.

"Jovi?" May asked. Jovi looked down again and went back to her fidgeting.

"Jovi is worried." Jovi muttered, automatically switching to her usual manner of speech. She thought one way, but she spoke in another. "Jovi is always worried now. Jovi is worried about big brother, about Max and Ash and May and Brock and..." By the time she had sped up to the point of being incoherent, she had gone on to list her mother, Professor Krane, Professor Kaminko, and Chobin.

Jovi was next aware of someone hugging her. When she looked up, she saw Rui.

Rui worried, too. She was almost as worried about Wes as Jovi was about Michael. But, over time, Rui had learned to temper her anxiety and turn it into mere concern. As long as she knew where Wes was going, she would be okay. But she had very little idea where Wes was going with this.

Wes had always been known for never holding back. Perhaps he thought that Michael would be a better trainer if he had an idea of how viciously Cipher could fight back.

If that was the case, Rui wasn't sure Wes was right. Sure, Cipher was full of maniacs, but Rui sometimes wondered if this side of Wes was just the product of the life he'd led before meeting her. Were all of Cipher's members just misunderstood and, therefore, consolable?

Rui mentally shook her head, not wanting to disturb Jovi, who had apparently calmed down somewhat. That wasn't the problem here. Despite his best intentions, Rui realized, Wes was being too hard on Michael. Wes had had to grow up too fast, so maybe he thought that Michael needed to as well.

Michael's Pokémon were shaking on their feet by that point, sporting burns and little patches of ice on their fur. Entei still stood tall, if a little unsteadily, and Suicune was favoring one leg heavily.

Wes, to Rui's surprise, asked Michael, "What do you think?"

Michael huffed. "I think you're being a bully."

Wes smirked. "Well, it's true," he said with a shrug. Gold met green. "Do you think this is unfair?"

"Duh." Michael replied, absolutely deadpan. "This is like fighting Greevil all over again."

"That was the point." Wes remarked. He recalled both Suicune and Entei into their respective Ultra Balls, watching his your opponent for a reaction. "This time around, Cipher's not going to be as stupid as they were the last two times around. They, hard as it is to believe, have learned not to let us fight our way to the top again."

"I guess that means that we won't be able to let a third kid take over, then." Michael muttered. He also recalled his duo and didn't bother to pull out his last two Pokémon. From the way things were going, he'd lose the next round, too. None of Wes's team were even worn that badly. Suicune and Cyrus had a limp each, but their respective partners were ready to thrash Michael's team yet again. And his own Pokémon were almost unconscious as it was.

"No, we won't." Wes replied. He tucked Entei and Suicune's Ultra Balls into his belt, then strode forward. Michael stood there, waiting.

Then the redhead stuck his hand out to meet Wes's, ending in a firm handshake.

Rui heard Jovi heave a sigh of relief. Thank Ho-Oh that was over.

* * *

Jessie was, while hot-tempered and rude, still a decent person. True, she hadn't liked the idea of leaving Team Rocket at first, but she had been appalled at their organization's actions, once James explained everything more thoroughly. She had even been able to see Meowth turn a nasty shade of green under his cream-colored fur. Jessie made a mental note to give the cat Pokémon a good ball of yarn once she could find one. At least he wasn't like those stupid Rocket-issued Pokémon that couldn't even think for themselves.

Jessie twisted her long red hair in her fingers, she wondered how they would be able to approach the two Snaggers. More pressingly, how would they do so without the twerp exploding at them? They had earned the punishment on more than one occasion, she would admit, but the kid was getting _sadistic_.

Jessie crossed her fingers and prayed.

"What're ya doin', Jessie?" Meowth asked her, hopping up on the edge of the hot air balloon basket so that he was sitting next to her elbow. He had left James to see to their grand landing.

"Thinking." Jessie replied, letting go of the lock of hair and watching it spring into a little ringlet. She needed a better hairdryer and less hairspray.

"'Bout what?" Meowth asked again, sinking his claws into the basket's weaving so he wouldn't fall the remaining hundred feet to the ground.

"Just...how are we going to make this work?" Jessie burst out frustratedly, running her gloved fingers through her hair. The static cling brought quite a few strands of it into the air. She glared at her handiwork and began to search for the comb she always had on hand, intent on correcting such a horrid mistake. Her hair was meant to be perfect, after all.

"We'll figure it out, Jessie. We always do." James said offhandedly, still staring at the burner and apparently not really paying attention to the conversation at all. Jessie knew better. James was strange and awkward at times, but he was dead useful. He was, after all, the one who had the best track record with inventions. Jessie would admit that her own ideas tended to fall pathetically flat.

That might have had something to do with the fact that none of them ever had the patience to read the instruction manual.

Jessie sighed and resumed her hair-twirling. "I don't like this."

"How come? We always land out of sight, so they probably won't shoot us down. And if we use disguises, we always get close enough to grab Pikachu." James noted. Then he paused and added dryly, "Come to think of it, they must be stupid not to notice the disguises. They're kind of obvious."

"I know that." Jessie said dismissively. "It's just different this time."

"Y'mean how we're not gonna steal Pikachu this time, right?" Meowth asked.

"Uh-huh. It makes me feel a little weird."

"Me, too."

"...I didn't wanna say this, but me three." Meowth put in last, shrugging. "Let's see how things go. We make stuff up as we go all the time."

"And how did that work out?" Jessie asked sarcastically. "That twerp sends us blasting off every time. Usually in about five minutes."

"We could tell him he's on a TV show for kids." James remarked, directing the Meowth Balloon on its last twenty feet to the ground.

"Not even he'd fall for that one, Jimmy," said Meowth. James just shrugged in response.

"We don't have enough money for another mecha, either." Jessie wailed dispairingly. "We've got nothing!"

The basket touched down and the trio scrambled out, noticing that they had landed in the Pokémon Center's backyard. A few Pokémon wandered about in the field aimlessly, ignoring the strangers or just giving them cursory glances. Their lack of concern was almost...disheartening to the trio. After all, they had spent most of their careers with Pokémon fleeing in terror of them, not refusing to give them a second glance.

Jame shrugged again, an action that Jessie and Meowth mimicked. They weren't thieves anymore, even if they had more than a little of that residual greed lying around in their heads.

Jessie strode up to the Pokémon Center's back door, knocked, and waited for a Nurse Joy to answer it. It wasn't like the area was corraled or anything. In the meantime, she began straightening out her long red hair in earnest, working it back into its perfect curve.

Instead of yet another of the mass-produced Nurse Joys answering the door, though, it was opened by a Blissey wearing a nurse's cap and a very familar necklace with a broken pendant...

"Blissey!" Jessie hugged the pink creature, overjoyed at seeing her friend again. "Did you get transferred here?"

Blissey just gave a happy cry and hugged back, tears leaking from her small, honest eyes. If the Pokémon hadn't been naturally shaped like an egg, she probably would have managed to get her arms around Jessie just as easily.

"Well, what do we have here?" Jessie looked up and met the eyes of the strange man who had commanded the two Legendary Pokémon from before. _Oh, crap._

* * *

A/N: End chapter eight, and thanks for reviewing, everyone. It only gets more exciting from here!

(_No, really_.)


	9. The Calm Before The Storm

**Chapter Nine: The Calm Before the Storm**

**A/N:** Can't seem to write this with any measure of speed…agh. Sorry, everyone.

This is going so bloody slowly…

Also, this might seem a bit disjointed because of the fact that parts of it were written weeks if not months apart…but just roll with it, okay? I promise there is an actual point to all of this.

* * *

_It was nighttime and it was __**raining**__. _

_It hardly ever rained in the summer, especially in Blackthorn City. They were on the wrong side of Mt. Silver for rain. The umbrella tilted up and a drop hit him on the nose, causing him to shake his head and readjust the collar of his raincoat. Wes had never gotten used to rain._

_Funny, three years and still nothing had really changed. Everyone in the city was still the same as when Wes and Rui had arrived, down to almost every last detail. Perhaps the children were older now, or maybe someone had run off to become a Pokémon trainer when he hadn't been looking, but in the sleepy little house he called home, it was as if time had stopped. Maybe it was because they lived on the edge of town, but neither he nor his companion had seen any new neighbors, giving the illusion that there was no one else around for miles._

_Normally Wes enjoyed taking long walks along the mountain paths, even going into the Ice Path once or twice once he'd bought a heavier coat, but he felt that, today, he had no patience for tracking mud everywhere. He was heading for home._

_Wes looked up from his task of avoiding the puddles as he heard a sound come from far ahead. Or far behind. The rain completely killed any sense of direction he would have had on a dry day and he looked in every direction he could think of._

_There didn't __**seem**__ to be anything there, but he wasn't convinced. He pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket and tossed it into the air. There was a burst of white light and then he had a new traveling companion—a Quagsire. She opened her mouth wide in a yawn and began swallowing raindrops._

"_Come on, girl. Keep your guard up." Wes reminded her quietly, knowing that she rarely wanted to do much other than sleep. Today, though, he needed her to be alert._

_Quagsire just yawned again and settled into a lazy trot beside him, and Wes was __**sure**__ she was splashing in all of the puddles on purpose._

_They made it all the way home without incident, and Wes let Quagsire lounge about in the pond in the back yard as a reward for being a good lookout. He then spent the next half hour trying to dry off and rub some feeling back into his limbs, eventually settling on sitting on the chair nearest the fireplace with a towel over his head. Rui was taking a nap while getting over her cold, and he didn't want to bother her with something as stupid as getting caught in the third straight thunderstorm of that week._

_Wes sat back and sighed contentedly, idly scratching between Jericho's ears as the Dark-type finally decided to wander over and sit against his trainer's foot. Soon after that, Cyrus appeared from nowhere and managed to crawl onto Wes's lap without him really noticing. All three yawned at the same time. Life, for the moment, was good._

_Then came Quagsire's warning screech. It was soon followed by the cries of Mantine, Remoraid, and Qwilfish, and finally both of the Eeveelutions sat up ramrod straight, their ears twitching madly even as Wes stood up. Already he had grabbed the Snag Machine, which had been on a coffee table until then, and was walking to the door even before there was any sort of knock._

_When it came, though, it was much weaker than he had expected. Wes jerked the door open and paused, blinking, as he had to look down. There was a boy there with deep red hair, swaying even as he held onto his Sneasel in something approaching a death grip. He didn't even look up at Wes, whispering something under his breath._

_Wes solved this problem by kneeling down so that he was barely tall enough to look the boy in the eye. Dull silver eyes stared back, meeting deep gold with the purest agony the Snagger had ever seen. Something had snapped._

"_H-help Sneasel…"the boy whispered, his voice barely audible. Wes put a hand on the Dark-type's forehead and nearly snatched his hand away instantly. Ice-types, no matter their second type, should never have a fever that high. He also noticed that both of his guests were covered in burns, __**real**__ burns, and that there were enough scratches and gashes between the two of them to kill anything smaller._

_Wes waved for Cyrus to wake Rui and gently picked up both the trainer and his Sneasel, carrying them inside. As he "What happened to you two?"_

"_Doesn't…m-matter…" Wes's stomach twisted. Something was very wrong here. "Just…look after Sneasel, okay…?"_

_**Crap!**__ "Don't think you're going anywhere, kid." Wes growled. He turned to face a pair of Pokémon who were staring at him from the staircase. "Delibird, Piloswine, get in here! Jericho, find Jumpluff, now!"_

* * *

Drew leaned against the Pokémon Center's window, not really focused on anything as the other kids in the room more or less made themselves at home.

May and Max chatted with their parents on one of the video phones over in the corner, filling her in on the events of the last two or three days. Drew still had a perpetual nagging urge to tell her how he felt, but he didn't want to think about that at the moment. Her brother would probably kill him for it, and her friends would most likely help. Enthusiastically.

Brock was feeding his Pokémon something Drew was sure he couldn't identify even if he had a microscope and a proper forensics team on call. Whatever it was, they liked it. Personally, Drew wouldn't feed his Pokémon anything if he didn't know what was in it, so Brock's custom cooking was right out.

Ash and his Pikachu were taking up space near the central gathering area, which had a centerpiece consisting of a fake-wood fireplace and a long stovepipe leading out through the ceiling. The couch wrapping about most of the area, which was sunk four or five feet into the floor, still held an odd button or two that Drew recognized as belonging to someone or other from May's group. He assumed they had slept there when there had been no rooms, as the Pokémon Center had been filled to capacity until the mayor cancelled the Grand Festival.

Jovi was using a second video phone to talk to a woman with light brown hair and green eyes, who Drew assumed was her mother. She looked nothing like Jovi, though, and Drew had no idea where either Michael or Jovi had managed to get their hair colors from. Still, the little girl seemed happy to blather on and on to her mother about her first Pokémon, the Larvitar.

Michael was speaking to Rui about something in low tones that Drew didn't care to know. The two of them were very similar-looking, but Michael's eyes were green, like his mother's. Rui's were a deep blue, darker than Jovi's. In fact, Rui and Michael, despite their appearances, were almost the complete opposite in personality. Rui was like a more mature version of Jovi, while Michael was a younger, redheaded Wes, with admittedly less attitude than the older Snagger.

Wes had gone out into the Pokémon Center's back yard for some obscure reason. If anything, Drew trusted him even less than he had initially trusted Michael. Wes was a very bitter person, though he had released the Legendary Pokémon immediately following the battle earlier in the afternoon, like he had promised. He just wasn't a sort of person that Drew could see himself trusting.

Drew sighed, walking over to hop over the back of the sunken couch Ash and his Pikachu were sitting on (though on the opposite side) and land in a seat.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, scratching his Pikachu under its chin.

Drew snorted at him. As if he would just blurt his problems to the nearest knucklehead.

"Okay, okay. Geeze…" Ash looked pointedly away, huffing as if Drew had mortally insulted him. Pikachu looked between the two of them, flicking an ear and giving a confused, "Pika?" Neither boy answered him.

"You two done playing the quiet game?" Drew glanced towards the rest of the room and saw Brock eyeing the two of them with concern. His Mudkip yipped at them disapprovingly. "It doesn't help anyone if you can't even start talking without arguing."

Drew snorted again, this time out of exasperation. When would they learn to leave him alone? He wasn't a member of their little wandering circus and didn't ever plan to be. If they would stop prodding him over stupid things like that he would probably consider easing up a bit, but they didn't seem able to take a hint.

The brooding, awkward silence was abruptly killed by a call of "Big brother! Mommy wants to talk!"

"Okay, I'm coming." Michael excused himself from his conversation with Rui before walking over to the video phone where Jovi sat. He struck up a conversation with his mother quickly - Drew wondered at the easy nature of their meeting. He hadn't spoken to his own parents for months, ever since his most recent departure from LaRousse City. What would his mother have to say to him about that?

"You look down." Drew almost jumped out of his seat before he realized that it was just Rui, who had somehow ended up kneeling on the elevated floor behind his head. Drew angled his head back and looked straight up, directly into Rui's face. She seemed just as concerned as Brock had a moment ago.

"Y'think?" Drew asked sarcastically, not able to shut off his razor-edged tongue in time. It was rather rude of him to mouth off to a girl, especially one that had several years' worth of seniority over him. And whose boyfriend was the most likely to thrash him in a Pokémon battle. Repeatedly and while laughing.

"Yup. Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"No."

She slid off the elevated floor and onto the ring-like couch next to him. "You sure?"

"I'm not upset, if that's what you're wondering." Drew said.

"I know. Frustration's worse." Rui replied, rubbing her head sheepishly. "So, tell me about Pokémon Contests. What are they like?"

"You want to know about Pokémon Contests? Haven't you heard of them before?" Drew was surprised; most people in Hoenn knew more about Contests than they wanted to even if they weren't trainers. The same could be said of most regions now -- Kanto and Johto had also adopted Pokémon Contests like those of Hoenn. The only region Drew could think of that probably didn't have any was Orre.

"I was on the move a lot as a teenager. I didn't even pick up Pokémon training until recently." Rui gave a little embarrassed smile. "So, I think I could get into Contests now if I tried. I don't have any bad habits yet, at least."

Plusle chirped loudly from where Rui must have left him. Drew glanced in the little Pokémon's direction and saw him standing at the open back door. A moment later, Wes appeared, beckoning to someone behind him. Who could have possibly caught _that_ Snagger's attention?

A Blissey waddled through the door, murmuring nervously. Drew noticed that it had a half-pendant on a string around its neck, and it seemed happy with itself.

And it was followed by Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket.

This was followed by a collective cry of "_What_?!"

* * *

Kat hummed as she rolled down the hill, counting out the mile markers to herself. Only one more mile of rollerblading until she reached the lab and could the oppressive heat and humidity behind her.

She took off her fedora and fanned herself with it, being careful not to dislodge her press pass from the band. She moved her legs slowly as the wheels spun and gravity took her another hundred feet further. Kat grinned to herself even though the humidity made her miserable. She'd finally get her big break with this interview.

She was just a junior reporter for ONBS, the news station for the entire region. When she actually allowed herself to dwell on it, which wasn't often, she remembered that most of the reporters Mr. Secc employed outranked her, even though some of them hadn't ever done field work. It rankled, just a bit.

Still, landing an exclusive interview with the kid who had saved ONBS from hostile takeover by terrorists, disbanded a criminal syndicate, and granted the entire region freedom from them once and for all…well, that would be a real boost. Thinking of the little redhead Marcia had interviewed, she grinned. _Look out, Michael, here I come_.

Glancing up at the sun's position, she pulled a water bottle out of her backpack. Well, she could afford to stop for a bit. She'd been traveling all morning and hadn't eaten lunch yet. Rolling over to a nearby fence, she pulled herself onto the railing and took a sandwich out of her back. Jelly today – peanut butter would have made the weather into outright torture.

As she ate, Kat swung her feet idly. She looked back over her shoulder every once in a while, watching the ranch Pokémon move slowly along the field, stripping it of anything resembling grass. Ponyta and Tauros roamed in small groups, alongside huge herds of Miltank and one or two Growlithe to help the entire procession keep order.

She'd have to ask the kid how he managed to travel all over Orre during the summer. If it was this hot at the end of August, at the cool end of the region, high summer must have felt like an oven. Kat brushed the leftover crumbs to the ground and drained her water bottle halfway.

Come to think of it, how _had_ the kid managed it? Not just the desert traveling – Kat wasn't particularly good with hot weather, but she'd made it – but the whole idea of saving a region at the age of twelve. She knew Mr. Secc probably knew Michael pretty well, but he'd never said much about him. She frowned and made a mental note to ask him later. She wiped her mouth on her arm and stretched a little before jumping off the fence and continuing on.

Kat straightened out her fedora and her press pass as she rolled on, followed by the gleeful Wingull who followed her in the hope of more free feedings, and sped up. Pumping her scuffed and bandaged legs more, she became a green-and-tan blur on the road that giggled as she went on in high spirits. This would be _awesome_.

Then she looked up and saw the Pidgey in the distance take off in terrified flight and stopped dead.

Then the shockwave and the sound – the horrible roar of shattering concrete mixed with the scream of ripping steel – hit her and knocked her off her feet. She felt her ears pop and she felt rather than heard something crashed into the ground next to her head, shaking the entire road with its weight.

She coughed – the dust had gotten everywhere, including her lungs, and she turned her head to the side and spat out a mouthful of grit. Still, she couldn't get up. Warm, thin liquid dripped from one ear and she felt her stomach turn over when she tried to stand. Glass pelted her and she could hear the ranch Pokémon bray with terror only from one side.

Kat stayed on the ground for a long time, blinking up at the smoke-filled sky with uncomprehending brown eyes. When she felt able to think again, she dug into her pocket and pulled out her PokéGear, pressing and holding the first key her numb fingers found. She never heard the emergency operator answer.

* * *

Wes leaned back against the wall as the situation exploded around him, amused. The long-haired woman and the blue-haired man he'd allowed into the room were both former Rockets, but he just couldn't see them as a threat no matter how hard he tried. They were just too incompetent. After everything, he found it strangely, sadly funny that the only people who could get within spitting distance of him and not get whacked upside the head were Rui, his Pokémon, kids, and idiots.

The sandy-haired young man yawned, glancing over to where the last of the kids had gotten off the video phone and decided to watch TV. That left him as basically the only person on this side of the room.

He gave Rui a nod as she glanced up at him. Well, with the kids all done with calling home, that meant he could finally make his own private call. Wes pulled out his PDA and scrolled down on the screen until two names came up. He selected the one on the bottom first and the dial tone started immediately.

_Beep_. "_Who's this?_" There was such a suspicious undertone to the response that Wes nearly laughed. It just didn't mesh well with the kid's voice.

"Hey, Silver. It's been a while." Wes said calmly, though inwardly he was laughing again. Sure, Wes was serious by default, but Silver always seemed convinced that the world was out to get _him_, personally. Wes had dropped that sort of thinking at about the time that he'd met Rui.

"_Wes_?" There was a pause from the other end before Silver burst out, "_What do you mean "it's been a while"? I thought you were dead after you vanished three weeks ago! You haven't even called and you've been fine this whole time?!_"

"Yeah, I'm still alive. Rui's fine, too." Wes replied easily. "So, how is everyone back home?"

"_That's not enough, you callous jerk! What was so important that you couldn't even call me so I could tell your Pokémon you __**weren't**__ killed in that rockslide?!_" Silver shouted. Wes actually had to hold the PDA away from his ear and Michael looked back at him in curiosity.

"All right, that's _enough_." Wes said sharply. "Silver, we've been _on the run_ since then. That rockslide? Cipher's doing, again. Excuse me for trying to fake my death so I wouldn't get everyone else killed by association."

Silver sighed. "_…I still wish you could have told me. Everyone's been depressed since the police reported you and Rui dead._" There was an edge in his voice that implied that Silver included himself in that statement and Wes bit back his first impulse because it wouldn't have helped any. He wanted to hug the kid who had somehow become the redheaded version of himself, who had showed up on his doorstep one day completely out of the blue, still reeling from a beating he had been handed by one of the Elite Four. Much like Wes and Michael, he was "damaged goods" and, like Wes in particular, had been abandoned by the one who had meant the most in his previous life. Abandoned, betrayed, left behind…it was really all the same thing. Silver hadn't had a single person to depend on.

It hadn't taken long for Wes to convince Rui to let Silver stay with them while he tried to rebuild himself.

"I know. But that's why I put you in charge of them." Wes told him. "I figured if anything happened to me you'd still be able to take over looking after all of the former Shadow Pokémon." _Because you need them as much as they need you_.

Silver remained silent for a while and then said, "_…Yeah, I knew that. But it doesn't make things any easier on my end._" Another pause. "_So, I guess you called me because you needed something. What is it?_"

Wes nodded to himself. Back to business. "Set up a transfer on your end. I need Napalm, Fennel, Deino, and Xatu, and I'll send over Skarmory before Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Let the three beasts go out back."

"_What, permanently? Are you sure?_"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You might say I had my eyes opened recently."

"_Okay, then. Whatever works for you._" Silver even _sounded_ like he was shrugging.

Wes found himself glad that the redhead had finally grown beyond his stubborn ambition from years before. It was about time. _But_… "By the way, have you been having any problems with Team Rocket lately?"

"_Them? No, not really. But I can ask around a bit if you can afford to wait._"

"I'm not worried about _them_. It's who they're _teaming up with_ that's starting to become a thorn in my side." Wes explained quietly. "And how's our other redhead doing?"

Silver seemed to shrug again. "_I don't really know. All he does is sit there on the porch, watching the Pokémon run around. He'll help me feed them if I ask, but otherwise he's about as much company as a brick._"

"Just give him time."

"_Yeah, I will. But was it a good idea to let him stay here? I mean, you know what he used to be like_."

"You mean what _you_ used to be like?" There was a laugh from Silver's end.

"_I see your point. As long as he doesn't do anything threatening, he can stay. And are you two ever going to come home?_"

At this, Wes froze. The truth of it was that he hadn't thought of going back to Blackthorn City at all since the last time Cipher had tried to kill him. He'd been living from moment to moment with barely any forethought to his and Rui's situation, and what would happen after this whole incident. Then he thought of Silver and how his voice had nearly cracked, and of the other redheaded guest they had picked up a few weeks before they had fled.

"Yeah. I think we are."

* * *

Far above even the clouds of Johto, Ho-Oh, the legendary phoenix, turned lazily in the air. It flapped its seven-colored wings only once, to gain height over the Azalea forest, and began flying south against a sun-streaked sky. It was already late for a meeting with the Guardian of the Seas, Lugia, though it also knew that Lugia had disappeared nearly seven months ago.

There was really no reason for the other great beast to be back so soon, but Ho-Oh had heard whispers from other Flying-types that the legendary bird trio of the Orange Islands had reappeared, and, since they had vanished at the same time as Lugia, it was reasonable to assume that it, too, was finally back. But given that the rumors had indicated that the three birds of Fire, Ice, and Lightning were not the same as they had once been, Ho-Oh approached the coming meeting with caution.

Ho-Oh had spent some time away from the Tin Tower recently after all, visiting Mt. Battle in Orre and shooting down a fleeing criminal's only escape route. But being captured by a human, however momentarily…well, that was rather embarrassing, to be honest. Ho-Oh flapped its great wings again, very nearly chuckling to itself. It wasn't a _horrible_ experience, though, except for its wounded pride. It counted itself lucky for that.

The land and sea below seemed to streak past in a beautiful blue-green blur as Ho-Oh dove from the clouds and flew low among the hills and waves. It flew faster than any flying Pokémon could imagine, taking on a bright golden glow as it flew faster still, before finally becoming nothing more than a brilliant streak of gold in the sky.

In the Orange Archipelago, Ho-Oh reappeared in a burst of golden light and a harsh wind, accidentally knocking nearby Seel and Dewgong off of their rocky beds. It flapped its winds again, hard, and rose to the highest point on the great middle island. The phoenix settled there, looking down and waiting until Lugia's Slowking shrine-keeper chose to wander out of its cave. "_I have arrived, Slowking. Tell your master that I am waiting._" Ho-Oh said in a booming voice.

Slowking stumbled out of the cave, clutching its Shellder-encased head. "All right, no need to shout." It looked up, trying to meet Ho-Oh's eyes. "I'm sorry to tell you that the Guardian of the Sea isn't here."

"_What?! Where is it, then?_" Ho-Oh demanded, shocked. The seven-colored phoenix flapped its wings again and flew down to meet the Psychic-type, perching on one of the stone arches that led up to the shrine itself.

Slowking replied, after some moments of thinking, "Something has changed. Lugia disappeared a few months ago, as you know. But ever since it returned not that long ago, it hasn't wanted to come out of the ocean for any reason." Slowking waved a pink arm vaguely, trying to come up with something else to say. "I don't know why, but I haven't seen it in ages."

Ho-Oh nodded slowly, then, "_I understand. Was Lugia in Orre at any point?_"

"Yes? It doesn't tell me where it's going most of the time, but I can imagine the ocean's currents taking it somewhere like that at least once or twice in the last year. Why?"

Ho-Oh thought back to the first Shadow Incident, which it had witnessed from its perch high on Mt. Battle. The great phoenix had watched as the desert land was consumed by the corrupted creatures that had been twisted into that form by the human organization called Cipher, all the while hating itself for being unable to do anything about it. It wouldn't admit the weakness at the time, but Ho-Oh had been afraid of the humans then, the memories from the Towers burning so many years ago still fresh in its mind.

But when the human named Wes had destroyed most of what Cipher had built, Ho-Oh had finally decided to act, destroying any chance of the organization's leader escaping with its powerful flames.

Before then, though, Cipher had been enough of a threat that Ho-Oh had hidden itself away, waiting for the right time to strike. Since being released by its "trainer", though, it hadn't returned to Orre for nearly five years.

"_I know what happened to it._" Ho-Oh said finally. It looked up at the other islands on the horizon—the islands that were home to Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. While Ho-Oh had no personal power over the other three birds, like it did over the three wandering beasts, Ho-Oh nonetheless threw back its crowned head and called for them. They were Lugia's underlings whether they liked it or not, and they might be able to call it back from its brooding beneath the waves.

Ho-Oh needed to tell it that the Shadow Incident wasn't over yet.

* * *

If there was one thing Michael could claim as a special talent, it was his ability to ignore everything around him when focused on something, even if it made him look scatterbrained and probably more than a bit slow. It came in handy now as he and Jovi sat down by the TV and watched the news report as the others argued.

"I hope nothing else's gone wrong. We've only been here three days." Michael muttered, leaning heavily on his elbow as Jovi flipped through the channels. He could still hear arguing behind his head.

"There is no way we'll trust you again!" That was Ash.

"Not our problem, twerp!" Well, that sounded like the Meowth.

There was a sigh. "Could you two take this outside?" Wes.

Something that looked bright orange flashed across the screen as Jovi held her thumb down on the channel button. She slumped on the couch, looking bored, as the images vanished in an instant. The next channel had the same thing on, though – it was a report about an explosion. Michael snapped his fingers and Jovi blinked back into reality.

"Jovi, turn it up." Michael said. Jovi's thumb flipped to the other side of the remote.

"—_reports coming in about a disaster in_—!" the newswoman was saying, flustered, but Michael couldn't make out anything else. From the noise level coming from behind the Snagger's head, Ash and Jessie had gotten into a fight.

"Hold on, what was that?" That sounded like Wes. Michael was trying to read the newscaster's lips and heard the man flop down on the couch beside him.

The minor battle over the fate of the world (or at least this part of it) continued into there was the sound of someone slapping someone else. It sounded like Rui had waded in and ended it.

The screen cut to another scene and another, equally harried reporter. "_This is from the scene of the explosion at—_!" Michael realized peripherally that the others had gone strangely quiet.

The TV seemed to be having issues. Every second another newscaster seemed to be trying to get him or herself heard, and the confusion seemed to continue for far too long. Then it ended with a sharp beeping noise and the sound cut off. A gray bar stretched across the bottom of the screen.

Then letters began to slide across the screen. As soon as their messages sank in, everything fell silent other than the warning buzzer.

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS OF TERRORIST ATTACKS IN FOUR REGIONS.

Michael felt Jovi's hand tighten around his own. He heard Wes curse.

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY: CODE RED.

PLEASE STAND BY. Then the screen went blank.

For a long moment, no one could speak, even as the sound came back from the rest of the world.

Then: "_This is Gaby and Ty from the Hoenn region_." A woman appeared on the screen, with short-cropped dark green hair and a professional air about her. At the very least, she looked like she had had one. Now she was dusty and her makeup had started to run. "_We're reporting from the scene outside of Littleroot Town, and from what anyone can tell, there seems to have been a massive explosion. At present, emergency workers are trying to find out whether or not anyone was inside the compound when it exploded, and to rescue anyone caught in the blast radius. Several cities' worth of Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys have converged on the scene to help_."

The camera panned out at this point and showed a towering column of smoke coming from some distance up the road. They could still hear the sirens and see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, though.

"_So far, no explanation has been offered as to what caused the explosion, but locals who have been interviewed are saying that two suspicious women appeared in town earlier today. More on this story as it develops._" Then someone came up on the camera, practically running right into the reporter. Then he tripped and smacked into the cameraman, knocking the wind out of him by the sound of it.

Gaby composed herself quickly and hauled them both back to their feet. To his credit, Ty managed to keep the camera rolling the entire time. "_Wait, young man! Do you live here?_"

"_Yeah, I do_!" he snapped at her. He was about Michael's age, or maybe a bit younger, with white hair (or was it a hat?) surrounded by a green headband. His brown eyes blazed and the reporter stepped back a bit. "_My dad's Professor Birch! Do you know what happened to—?_"

"_Brendan?_" Michael watched as the boy abruptly turned to face someone off-screen. Next to him, May and Max also sat up a little straighter and he saw Ash jump.

Now there was someone else arriving from somewhere out of line-of-sight with a, "_Professor Birch! What happened here—?!_" and suddenly the image cut off.

"_What just happened?_" Max asked into the silence, apparently trying to make sense of things, but the TV cut him off again.

"_Reporting live from outside New Bark Town!_" said a new voice, and after a second the screen cleared up to reveal a reporter talking to a soot-streaked man who was covered in bandages. The man waved an arm impatiently and snapped, "_Sorry, but there's been an explosion at Professor Elm's lab. I can't stay to talk; someone has to get these IV fluids to the people they're pulling out right now!_"

He ran off, and then a blue-haired girl replaced him on the screen. The reporter tried to say something as she yelled at a trainer wearing a black and yellow hat, but she cut him off with a sharp, "_Look, sir, there's a fire and I'm the only one with a Water-type Pokémon in this town! Talk to someone else!_" Then she pulled a Pokéball from her waist pouch and threw it. "_Go, Wani-Wani!_"

A massive Feraligatr appeared in a flash of white light and both Pokémon and trainer ran off toward the growing blaze in the distance.

There was a burst of static and someone had the time to say "_There has been an incident at Professor Oak's laboratory in Pallet Town—!_" before the channel seemed to change of its own will. Michael heard Ash drop to his knees.

Then the screen shifted again and Rui, Jovi, and Michael all gasped at the same time. Wes made a little noise in the back of his throat at the sound of the featured reporter's voice.

It was Marcia, Duking's daughter and top field reporter for ONBS. Michael felt his stomach twist in dawning comprehension. _No! Anywhere but there, not Mom and Professor Krane and…_

"_At last count, there have been sixteen people airlifted to the hospital in Gateon Port._" Marcia was saying with impressive stoicism, which Michael couldn't find that he could appreciate. Everything was happening so fast… "_It is unknown how many are dead or wounded, but the casualty count is projected to be in the upper fifties—_"

Neither Michael nor Jovi could take it anymore. "_MOM!!_"

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, this was planned out from (pretty much) the beginning. I just kept tripping over conversations for months, working on other projects, getting sidetracked by school…and so on. Sorry everyone.

And I apologize for the italics-spam, too.


	10. Panic Attack

**Chapter Ten: Panic Attack**

**A/N:** …please don't kill me.

Anyway, on to the chapter that's been killing me worse than the previous one.

Also, the rating's been bumped up because this is going get a _lot_ worse before it gets better.

If anyone cares, the Silver featured in this fic is actually a strange mix of the manga version and the game one. But he didn't use Jimmy as a character development point.

* * *

They were going home.

Wes kept his eyes closed as the kids took turns using his Xatu's teleportation abilities to go wherever they were needed. It wasn't as though his Xatu—who he had caught three years ago in the Ruins of Alph and had taken all over the world when his Skarmory was worn out—couldn't manage using the ability as many times as needed, but inwardly he winced. He wasn't stupid; he knew that somehow this had to do with Cipher's resurgence, but he had no idea what their exact angle was now. The only thing precaution he could reasonably take was to get all of their PokéGear and PokéNav contact information—he couldn't justify telling them not to go home, not when all of them were in a state of shock like this. Doing this to a bunch of kids…when Wes got his hands on the leaders of the new Cipher, there would be hell to pay.

But the pattern was too strange, even for the old Cipher. They had never been the type for terrorism via explosives, and neither had any of the other criminal organizations Wes had encountered since then. Oh, sure, he'd blown up Team Snagem's base with as much dynamite as he could find on short notice, but that was just him. Where was the Shadow Pokémon involvement? So far, he'd seen several, but these attacks didn't seem to be Cipher's way of doing things.

Wes sighed mentally. _Management shift_. That was the only explanation he could think of. The ringleaders of the first Shadow Incident are still in prison…right? Evice was, at least, but there wasn't much anyone could do to an old man like him. _He was probably five years from dropping dead anyway_. _Nascour vanished somewhere in the system within two months, so he'd probably be out if only because the Elite Fours have other issues like the resurrection of Groudon and Kyogre to think about_.

As for the lower-ranking Cipher administrators like Venus, Ein, and Dakim, though… _They never were arrested. I beat them three times each and all they ever had to do was pay up to the manager of the Under Colosseum._ So, they were probably going to go with what worked. That most likely meant that they had found a new employer.

Shadow Incident Number Two had involved almost none of the same people, which was, at least in Wes's opinion, a very bad thing. Either it meant that Greevil had been an independent schemer and had randomly decided that trying to take over Orre was a good way to spend his fortune, or there had been a few more elements of the old Cipher that Wes had overlooked.

Either way, nothing was adding up to form even a reasonable facsimile of a positive picture.

_Well, it could the Team Rocket influence_, Wes thought. But, thinking about it, it seemed almost more likely that that new gang—what were they called again…Team Galactic?—would be more influential there. He was looking for conspiracies where they didn't exist. A stupid name, but now that he thought of it the other group was supposed to be a bunch of thugs with a leader who happened to think the ends justified the means, whatever the ends were supposed to be. Still, he'd heard about the Lake Valor incident, and it unnerved him.

And somehow, all of it added up to the most ambitious and immediately destructive scheme yet. Wes sighed and tried to think. What was their motive? It suited low-level flunkies in most of the organizations to do something so blatantly destructive, but if this was an upper-management plot… He was getting ahead of himself. _Just worry about getting the kids home safe. Even if you don't like most of them, and you wish the Rockets would go jump in quicksand and die, you're supposed to be the responsible adult. That was why they gave you the advanced trainer's license._

Granted, their only other option was to concede that an unregistered thug had plowed through the Champion's team while in a crappy temper, but it was the fact that he had one, regardless, that counted.

"Mr. Wes?" The Snagger opened his eyes and looked down at the blue-haired girl with the buns, who was poking his folded arms.

"What is it?" he asked, glancing over to where her brother was practically catatonic. The idea that his mother and many of the people he knew were horribly injured or dead…the kid hadn't taken it well at all.

"Jovi is worried about big brother," she said, looking at the same redhead and then back to Wes.

"He'll be okay," Wes lied—he didn't know Michael well enough to be sure, and it didn't really look like it, but he saw no reason to scare the girl further. "Just give him time."

Jovi looked between them again. Then, with tears in her eyes, she said softly, "Jovi doesn't think we have that long."

Wes blinked—_what_ had the girl said?—but she was already joining her brother in line for Xatu's teleportation service. He decided not to say anything about it.

"Wes? What's wrong?" Rui asked as she walked over, spotting the look on his face.

"Nothing," he replied immediately. Then he thought it over and added, "At least, nothing more than normal."

"What does that mean?" Rui demanded crossly.

Wes sighed—there was never any point to lying to her, was there?—and admitted as he saw the odd pair of siblings teleport away, "I think there might be more to this than we know, Rui. And," he added, remembering the frantic phone call with Silver, "we should probably go home, too."

"Silver's okay, isn't he?" Rui asked quietly as the Rocket trio tried to describe to Xatu exactly where they wanted to go. Xatu apparently had no idea what they were talking about and shook her green head apologetically.

"Yes, he's fine, but…" Wes frowned.

Rui sighed, knowing their gray-eyed guest as well as Wes did. "He'll head to New Bark Town to help out. Even if he has to ride Crobat to get there."

Wes nodded. "Ever since we picked him up, he's been trying to put himself together as someone else. You saw how he acted once that wanted poster made its way to Blackthorn. He's going to do anything to change the past."

Rui sighed. "…Including destroying his future. Feraligatr likes him, his whole team likes him, we like him…but it just isn't enough, is it?"

"I guess not. Let's go home." _I hope just having their numbers is enough. There's too much widespread destruction for us to protect all of them—and anyway they wouldn't agree to it. And there's no way I would be able to keep a bunch of kids away from their families at a time like this and still be able to look at myself in the mirror ever again._

Eventually, the Rockets seemed to come to a consensus with Xatu on where to head to next. Wes thought he heard the words "Pallet Town," but he couldn't be sure.

* * *

Even though it wasn't the first time she'd teleported somewhere, this was by far the most unpleasant journey. May felt like someone had tried to stretch her like a noodle and then toss whatever was left into open air. Maybe that was why she landed on her face—flailing like an idiot while teleporting meant that she was in the air upside-down when they landed.

"Owie…" May mumbled, rubbing her poor nose as she sat up.

"Are you going to get moving?" Drew's voice was a surprise and she looked up, blinking. The smirk was still there, but there was an edge of something else in his voice. She dismissed it and got to her feet.

Max was nearby, straightening out his glasses as he tried to stop the world from spinning. "That hurt."

May let him grab her hand as he tried to get his balance back, looking around at the city they'd landed in. Xatu was perched on a nearby streetlight, motionless. Looking past the huge green bird, though, May could see a plume of smoke rising in the distance. "Where are we?" she asked no one in particular.

After a few seconds, Drew said, "Well, this is the northern part of Littleroot Town." He tapped her shoulder and pointed in the opposite direction from the smoke. "And Petalburg City is that way."

May started. "What, you think I'm just going to go _home_ after this? Professor Birch is my friend! I can't just leave him like—mmmph!" She was cut off on her rant by Drew covering her mouth.

The intensity in his green eyes was the only thing keeping her from slapping him instantly. She still _would_, if this wasn't important, but that could wait. Quietly, he said, "Look, May, I know you want to help. But unless you have any Water-type Pokémon with you, you're just going to be someone else the rescuers have to worry about. Just go home and make sure your parents know you're okay."

Oh, she was _not_ going to let him get away with patronizing her like that. May pushed him away, snapping, "You don't have any Water-types either, Drew. How are you going to do anything against a disaster like that?"

"I'll be fine." Drew said. He held up a pair of Pokéballs. "Flygon can use Sandstorm, and Masquerain can use Bubblebeam. _I'll_ be able to help."

"So will I." May replied, unyielding. "Maybe Professor Birch is more my dad's old friend than mine, but I'm not going to leave anyone I care about to die! That's not the kind of person I am."

Max exchanged glances with Xatu as May and Drew each tried to force the other to back down. "What do you think?"

Xatu teleported away with a little blip of white light.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me…" Max muttered. This wasn't getting them anywhere. He looked downhill, toward the plume of smoke and where the streams of people were fleeing from. _Okay_, _here I go._ He ran down the hill.

About a second later, May gave a startled shriek and chased after him, Drew in tow.

* * *

By the time they arrived, the emergency work near the Pokémon HQ Lab was already underway. Paramedics and firefighters swarmed the building with Chansey, Graveler, Machoke, and a dozen different Water-Types of all stripes. Jovi ran past a pair of Poliwhirl who were assisting two firefighters and a Houndour in locating the injured and dead, followed by her brother. Michael was nearly knocked down by a Machop that was carrying buckets of sand to and fro, but the sibling pair ran on.

The Lab was a wreck. The roof, the glass front windows, the sidewalk…everything was either in pieces or on fire. Jovi didn't have any idea how anyone could have survived the initial blast, when the metal would have been flying at deadly speed in all directions, or the fireball that the news said came right after…

They were stopped by a policewoman who had a Growlithe at her side. "What are you kids doing here? This is a restricted area! Didn't you see the yellow tape?"

Michael said nothing, staring past her. Jovi found herself in the uncomfortable position of explaining things before they both got thrown out of the area, but she couldn't find the words and her brother was in no condition to start talking to anyone now.

"Jovi!" Her head whipped around just as the policewoman with blue hair was about to call for someone to get them out of the restricted zone.

She hadn't expected to see this face, not even the ever-present swirly glasses. But then, she'd never been happier for it. The silly, over-stressed assistant was one of her closest friends. "Chobin!" And behind him, she would never forget that broomstick-style hairdo. "Professor Kaminko!"

The policewoman turned to the soot-streaked old man and his beleaguered assistant, still holding onto Jovi and Michael's shoulders. "You know these two kids, Professor?"

The crazy (or as he preferred to think of it, differently sane) professor nodded. "These two are Michael and Jovi. They live here." He indicated the children.

"Okay…" the policewoman began, but before she could say anything else Michael pulled himself out of her grip and ran past all of the adults. "Hey!"

Jovi saw it too. She bit the policewoman and dashed after her brother, even though the Growlithe and Chobin's Sunflora followed and she could hear shouting behind them. People and Pokémon alike scattered before them in such disarray that the Growlithe was unable to follow. The Sunflora, however, slipped through the crowd easily and caught up with the two children just as they were scrambling toward a particular ambulance.

They made it just as two EMTs, assisted by a Machamp, were loading the gurney. The two men were more than a little surprised to basically be attacked by two kids who looked like they were younger than thirteen, both clinging the contraption. The Machamp tried to nudge both of them away so the medics could get the injured patient inside the ambulance, but neither would budge.

"Michael, Jovi. That's enough."

Jovi looked up, feeling the gentle pressure of a hand on her shoulder. "But…but it's _Mommy_…"

Professor Krane nodded, his glasses broken and his forehead bleeding on top of the rest of his injuries. He was badly hurt, just like the rest, but he was conscious. He could walk. That was enough—Orre didn't have the facilities to handle this many injured people. Krane was on his own for a while.

Still, he allowed Jovi to hug him fiercely and he gently pried Michael away from the gurney his mother was strapped to, allowing both of them to cry into his soot- and bloodstained labcoat. "It'll be all right…" They were all exhausted. Krane could tell just from looking that Jovi was going to have nightmares for months, and he knew that Michael would be lucky to ever be able to put this behind him.

Despite that, and how the world looked like it was coming to an end, Krane just held onto the two children who had become like his own, praying that it would get better somehow.

As the policewoman appeared again and both Chobin and Professor Kaminko finally managed to fight their way through the crowd, Krane had already mostly calmed Michael and Jovi back down to their normal mood. Almost. Michael's bones seemed to have gone to jelly and Krane held the boy carefully, afraid that if he let go the redhead would finally have the breakdown he was long since due for.

"Professor Krane, what about the Pokémon?" Jovi asked, rubbing some of her tears away.

Krane grimaced. "Some of them were caught in the blast. Pokémon Center staff are arriving every second for them."

"But…" Jovi began.

"We'll all be meeting up in Gateon Port." Krane said firmly. "As far as I know, none of them are dead."

Jovi looked back—there were body bags being lined up near a pile of rubble that seemed stable enough. Some of them were too small to be human. She decided not to ask about them.

"Is Mommy going to be okay?" Jovi asked, wrapping her arms around Krane's neck again. Chobin and Kaminko were there, and the policewoman's Growlithe was sitting nearby even as Sunflora's leaves surrounded all of them, but Jovi didn't care. Michael was hiding his face against Krane's collar, and he hadn't spoken to anyone since the news report. Mommy was going to the hospital. Krane was hurt, any number of the people she'd grown up with and had seen every day were missing, and the Pokémon she'd come to know and love…all of it could be gone.

Jovi threw herself at Krane and Chobin and Kaminko and her big brother—they were parts of her old life she could still touch. They were still _there_.

That would have to be enough.

* * *

"He's gone." Wes said grimly, walking into the house he shared with Rui and their semi-permanent houseguests. Xatu had managed to teleport them almost on their own doorstep—she had even teleported Wes's bike again. Thanking the bird, they got down the business rapidly once they were inside. The dishes had been left half-done, the door's deadbolt unsecured, and most of the Pokémon were still running around the wooded property. Silver had left in a hurry. Heck, half of the windows were still open.

"We need to catch up to him." Rui murmured, immediately running to the bathroom to see if the first-aid supplies were where she had left them.

Wes looked around the darkened house, listening to Rui's scrambling in the background, and walked out to the back porch. He called out Cyrus and Jericho silently, sending them out to inform the other Pokémon about his return, and then walked toward the guest cabin they'd managed to build before their disastrous encounter with Cipher on that mountain road.

Unsurprisingly, their second guest was gone as well. Wes sighed and set about searching the property and talking to all of his Pokémon again. He needed to get his bearings again before heading off on a rescue mission. Silver was liable to get himself killed, but their other guest knew better. He was old enough to look after himself, especially with that Flygon and Ninjask pair of his.

"Where's the other guy?" Rui asked as Wes came back, trailing two dozen Pokémon of all types and sizes and dripping Pokémon drool.

"Gone. I guess he decided it was safer to skip town." Wes muttered, walking over to the sink to wash his face off. "Did you find any gauze or ointments or anything?"

Rui shook her head. "Silver must have taken them."

"Well, at least we know he thought about it a little before running off." Wes remarked, toweling his face dry with the kitchen washcloth. There wasn't enough time for more. He clicked his tongue and there was a series of flaps and the sound of rattling windows. When the couple looked outside, Wes's Skarmory and Rui's Altaria were waiting on the road.

Wes and Rui closed their house up against would-be burglars, set Medicham and Absol as heads of the household, and left by Flying-Type for New Bark Town.

09090

Ash and Brock landed about a block from Professor Oak's lab and took off running. People were running everywhere, panicking and fleeing with their children and their possessions out of fear of another attack, and Ash couldn't blame them. With Pikachu at his side and Forretress at Brock's, they were going to help no matter what. Running away was for other people.

About a minute later, Jessie, James, and Meowth all showed up exactly where Brock and Ash had just left.

"This is bad news for us," Meowth said, looking around at all the panicking people and at the smoke and rubble everywhere. But then, when wasn't it?

He had a point. They weren't good guys, exactly, but they definitely weren't bad guys anymore. Good guys were supposed to save the day, but Jessie and James both knew as well as Meowth did that they weren't exactly strong trainers, either. Seviper, Dustox, Cacnea and Chimecho…no, they were no powerhouses, not like the ones the twerps and those other trainers were carrying around.

"If we're going to be good guys, we should probably go all the way." James remarked, starting off in the direction they remembered led to Professor Oak's lab.

Jessie scoffed, though she followed nonetheless. "What have the 'good guys' ever done for us?"

Meowth thought about it. There was a long, long list, most of which basically translated to "they blew us up," but maybe it was time to try and work for a different ending. They'd already agreed that there was no going back from here; no way were they heading back to the boss or Team Rocket with what they knew. It made all of them sick, just like when they'd been to the Lake of Rage so long ago and seen those rage-powered Pokémon Cassidy and Butch had been using. Meowth had thought about the strange devices, and what it would feel like if they were used on _him_.

Yeah…not good. He'd had nightmares for a week after that.

Meowth held up a paw to forestall any further argument—once upon a time he would have slashed both their faces to get them to shut up, but no more—and as his closest friends kept arguing despite that, he heard James say, "What else should we do?"

"I don't know—run?" Jessie suggested—while she'd been open to the idea of leaving Team Rocket when James had told the both of them what the boss's new partners were going to do, there was a bit of leap from "getting out before something bad happens" to "sticking our own necks out for the twerps."

She had a point, too. Meowth was torn—Jessie and James were his best (and it seemed that sometimes they were his _only_ friends…) and he hated being stuck between them with no real opinion. They'd competed with the twerps in nearly everything for what felt like years, from Pokémon Contests to PokéRinger competitions to just straight-up battles of all stripes. In a way, they were closer to the twerps than they were to nearly anyone else outside of their group. On the other hand, most of the interaction between the two groups ended with explosions.

"Maybe…" Meowth began, drawing their attention with a nasty claw-prick for each of them, "maybe we could wait a bit." He rubbed his chin with his paw. "Y'think maybe we should do something a little less dangerous—maybe coordinating stuff?"

Jessie and James blinked.

"Not like contests," Meowth added hastily. "Like…well, that sunglasses guy was pretty upset when that stuff showed up on the TV, and he had to get all the twerps' numbers, right? _We_ even got his, and he was madder at us than anyone until the explosions." He'd kind of looked like he was going to eat them alive, actually. For a while.

"Your point is…?" Jessie urged, a look of anticipation on her face.

"Well, what I'm saying is that I think we could get in his good books—a guy with Raikou, Entei, _and_ Suicune can't not be loaded, right?—by keeping track of the twerps for him." Meowth pointed at the PokéGear that the group had, admittedly, stolen some time ago from a store in Goldenrod. Jessie always had it, but they didn't usually use it because the boss had never liked being called on something so open to eavesdroppers.

"So, you want us to watch the twerps for him." Jessie said carefully as James stood back and watched them. "And report things, like how they're doing and what's going on?"

"Yeah, I think so."

James glanced at Jessie, who shrugged. Pulling out a pair of their binoculars, complete with distance tracking and night vision, he said, "Works for me. Let's go find a hill."

* * *

_This place is a mess_. Silver thought as he clung to Crobat's back.

Silver hadn't been to New Bark Town in ages, since he'd stolen his future Feraligatr from Elm's lab back when he was just starting out. The town had been previously growing—he didn't remember seeing quite so many stores last time—but now the plume of smoke emanating from what had been Professor Elm's lab was showing just how much things had changed. Crobat and Silver both started coughing—besides making for difficult flying because of the way the thermals twisted in knots around it, the column of smoke was also making it very hard to breathe.

"Crobat, it's time to land." Silver told the huge purple bat. Too much smoke, too much wind, not enough time…

The bat grunted in acknowledgment and started to beat all four of his wings rapidly. And then they fell, like a lightning bolt lancing from the sky. Silver had to maintain a death grip on his bat's back to make sure he didn't slip off and go crashing to his death.

Crobat jerked wildly and spun in midair. Silver saw stars for a minute, and it took him a little longer than that to realize that someone was trying to attack him with Swift. He looked down.

…_Is that a Typhlosion?_ Silver abruptly told his internal monologue to can it when a blast of water nearly clipped Crobat's side and knocked them out of the sky. Crobat made an abrupt turn, spinning ninety degrees practically on a midair dime, and zoomed across the town at roof level.

Silver looked back over his shoulder, past the explosions, and saw a five-way trainer battle taking place. Milotic, Bellossum, Steelix, and Aggron were on one side, while the other had a Meganium, a Feraligatr, and a Typhlosion. Of those using the evolved starter Pokémon of Johto, Silver only recognized one. Of the two female trainers who were using Pokémon from other regions, Silver recognized neither. However, given that the entire square was surrounded by strange people wearing weird helmets and looking a lot like the average criminal group (that wasn't Team Rocket), the redhead decided that it would be a lot saner to play it safe and join up on the younger trainers' side, mostly because he knew that they (or, at least the boy he actually could remember) would never join up with a criminal syndicate. Besides, his disdain for Team Rocket and its rip-offs hadn't come close to dissipating yet.

Silver sighed and tapped Crobat's shoulder, making the bat slow down for a moment. "We'd better go back there and help them out."

Crobat made a noise that sounded a bit like a sigh of his own, then spun in midair and sped back toward the battle. Crobat, moving at roof level, tore through the streets and sky like a bullet. Silver had to flatten himself against his Pokémon's back or get torn off by the wind.

Crobat gave a hiss and Silver took it as his cue to get off _now_, trusting his bat completely. It paid off—less than a second after Silver let go and rolled to a painful stop in a bush, Crobat hit the Bellossum at full speed and launched it through the wall of a house.

"Crobat, Double Team!" Silver found himself shouting, clambering to his feet with difficulty while pulling out a pair of Pokéballs. Crobat needed backup.

As if to confirm his suspicion, the Milotic's Ice Beam blasted right through one of the afterimages. The Aggron was already starting to use Hyper Beam…

The Steel-type was fast. Silver was faster. His Pokémon team was like lightning. "Sneasel, take it out with Brick Break! Gengar, Night Shade!"

Appearing in a pair of identical bursts of white light, the jet-black Ice-type and giggling purple ghost immediately went on the offensive—they were used to their trainer's need for speed and the rapid nature of his orders. They'd trained for this.

Gengar brought his tiny hands together and went through the charge-and-release routine for the black energy ball in less than a second. Sneasel flat-out vanished as soon as he hit the ground, and all the poor Aggron and Steelix pair could see was a pair of oncoming shadows.

Meanwhile, Gengar exploded from the smoke that had marked the Bellossum's impromptu visit to someone's house, dodging tendrils of pure black energy.

"Shadow Pokémon." Silver jumped back just before a jet of water from the Milotic was about to punch him through the pavement. Even so, huge chunks of the street were gouged out by the power behind it.

"Stay still, you stupid little brat!" snapped one of the enemy trainers, and Silver looked up.

…_Is that supposed to be a man?_ was all he could think at that moment. _They sure don't make villains like they used to._

"You!" said one of the boys he'd come to give back-up to. Silver glanced back—yeah, same dorky hat, same weird puffy shorts, and the same blazing blue eyes. He couldn't put a name to the face, however.

"Yeah, me!" Silver shouted back anyway. He mentally switched gears to "conversation with people" mode. "You, with the Torchic haircut! Get your Meganium to take out that stupid Milotic!"

"My hair does not look like a Torchic!" snapped the boy with grayish-blond hair. Silver just gave him a shrug. "Meganium, use Petal Dance!"

As the swirling pink petals surged toward the water worm and Milotic was thrown back, Silver was trying to pay attention to too many things at once. Sure, Crobat and Sneasel were perfectly capable of battling without him watching and ordering their every move, but he didn't like the idea of leaving them to face Shadow Pokémon on their own.

A blast of noxious breath that made a nearby fire hydrant explode abruptly made Silver change priorities—the confirmed Shadow Steelix was very pointedly looking at him. It was already taking a deep breath to attack again.

Silver gulped. But he still had a job to do, and it looked like getting killed by Dragonbreath was about to become just another hazard.

"Wani-Wani, Protect!" the girl was screaming as the second bolt lanced down at Silver and he threw himself flat in preparation for the pain.

Then there was a Feraligatr in the way, holding its huge arms above Silver's head and blocking the blast and making it discharge harmlessly against the energy field surrounding them both. The Water-type snarled, yellow eyes locked on the suddenly timid Steel-type that had tried to kill him in the first place.

The blue-haired girl was there suddenly, ordering a rapid sequence of attacks like only a Coordinator could. She hauled Silver back to his feet, shouting, "Wani-Wani, Waterfall!"

The Feraligatr shot forward and smashed into the Aggron like a speeding truck, knocking them both into a storefront. Everyone could hear the Feraligatr smacking the Aggron around the shop with Brick Break until it was ricocheting around inside.

Thankfully, the blunette's boys were also getting their act together.

"Typhlosion, aim for the Bellossum with Flamethrower!" shouted the one in the hat, just before an attack Silver recognized as Shadow Rave blasted a hole in the street next to him. It might have flat-out killed him if the one with the Torchic haircut hadn't yanked him out of the way at the last second.

That was how they were—the Johto boys together in their anger and Silver and the blue-haired girl united by circumstance—when the enemy finally started to gloat.

There were two men on the UFO-like craft—the weird girly-looking from before and a new, bulkier man with the look of someone who spent more time in the gym than in uniform.

"Good effort, brats!" Team Rocket. Had to be. The huge red R gave it away. But they were supposed to be gone! "You've managed to set us back for a while, but don't think you've won yet!"

Silver looked around the square at the assembled criminals. None of them had their Pokémon out. Only the four Shadow Pokémon—Steelix, Aggron, Milotic, and Bellossum—stood to face them directly. And yet, with only that much opposition, Silver knew they were cornered. The grunts would undoubtedly keep any of them from leaving, and yet Silver was sure he'd be able to defeat all of the Shadow Pokémon with only a little help.

Stalemate.

"I wonder…" he muttered. His smile suddenly broadened and Silver saw malice in both his eyes and the expression of the silver-haired (wo)man beside her. "You don't seem to be the one we're looking for, boy. But maybe Giovanni would appreciate another redhead to occupy his time until we catch this Michael of Orre?"

Silver froze. None of the other Johto trainers seemed to know what was going on, and Silver had no idea what the crazy woman was talking about. But he knew that if either he or this "Michael of Orre" kid got caught by this new group, they were as good as dead.

"How about you come down here and say that!" shouted the boy with the hat.

_It's just going to get a lot worse if they do._ Silver thought. He paused. _Sorry Wes, Rui. But I have to do this._ _I'm not going back._ Then, "Crobat, use Hyper Beam!"

The bat didn't hesitate. The UFO exploded.

* * *

The video-in-video of the attack on New Bark Town made a blipping sound as it vanished. There was silence in the office for a long moment.

They had made a severe miscalculation.

"Tell me," Giovanni's voice was flat and cold as he looked at the men on the screen. Ardos and Nascour stared back, not at all cowed. "When were you two going to _deign_ to inform me that you were willing to _kill my son_ to get this boy?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Michael and Jovi of Orre sat by their mother's hospital bed. Michael slept, leaning on the mattress in such a way that Jovi knew he would have a sore back in the morning.

Jovi sat vigil over her brother and her mother, silently perched on a chair. Larvitar sat nearby, red eyes bright in the darkness.

And they only had the gentle beeping of the heart monitor to lull them to sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, this is going to get spectacularly ugly. Why do you ask? :p

Also, although Silver was the only named character to get in a fight this chapter, everyone else will get their turn in the next one.


End file.
